Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Drama
by Lord Maximus
Summary: Dragged from their world by Darkness, they seek to survive as they are scattered across the Universe, dragged into a plot that will endanger them and everything they love. Can they find the strength to remain in the Light or will they fall into the Darkness?
1. Dive into the Heart

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

_Light_

_Darkness_

_Day_

_Night_

_Good_

_Evil_

_Love_

_Hate_

_These two forces are purely opposite and have been since the beginning of creation itself. Some say one side is weaker while others would act like they above such labels. But regardless of these reasons these two forces exist and they exist everywhere, even in the Hearts of living beings. They are opposite so naturally they oppose each other._

_Darkness reaches out to devour everything in its path while the Light shines bright, unwilling to be snuffed out by the Darkness. The Light seeks to bathe all of existence in its glow but the Darkness hides in the shadowy shades beneath the Light's reach. Neither can exist where the other cannot reach and neither can exist without the other. That is why beings have tried to harness the power of both sides for their own desires, even if those desires would lead to the destruction of entire world. _

_People have fought, bled, and died struggling to maintain this delegate balance that has kept all of existence alive since its creation. And the cycle continues with new people attempting to use Light or Darkness for their own goals..._

_And new beings are given weapons and powers that lead them down a path without a choice in the matter. How could they say no when their home was in danger of being destroyed and swallowed in Darkness or Light? How can they say no when the possibility of an apocalypse happening and threatening all of existence?_

_Or when something worse, much worse endangers them, their worlds, and all of existence?_

Xxx

_The people trapped inside the eight orange balloons screamed as they were sent flying off in the sun's direction._

_"Love is a fine, fine, thing." Alejandro said as he held Heather in his arms._

_Mike and Zoey kissed followed by Alejandro and Heather while Gwen shrugged and kissed Cameron on the cheek._

_"THAT'S IT! THIS IS THE FINALE! IT'S ABOUT PAIN AND BETREYAL!" Chris bellowed. "NOT HUGS AND KISSES! PAIN!"_

_Gwen, Cameron, Mike and Zoey stood in front of the fake castle set up with Mike holding the sword._

_"THE ISLAND IS SINKING!" Cameron screamed._

_Heather and Alejandro screamed as they swam for their lives with Fang chasing them. Mike, Gwen, Cameron, and Zoey floated away on the roof of a cabin._

_Everything that happened after Camp Wawanakwa sank to the bottom of the lake became a dark blur for all the remained._

Xxx

_Five young teens watched a shooting star in the night sky._

_An armored figure walked towards set of key shaped weapons embedded in the ground._

_Four warriors covered in armor watched as an old man and a younger man wearing a black and red jumpsuit with his face covered by a black visor approached them in a vast desert littered with key shaped weapons embedded into the ground as eleven figures in black cloaks appeared behind them. The middle armored figure charged at the pair as the old man raised his right hand. Suddenly the ground between them shot up which the armored warrior slammed into and skidded across the newly created miniature mountain._

_Gwen stood in a great hall, dressed in dark clothing watching as someone charged at her, holding a key shaped weapon tightly in both hands. They both clashed and were enveloped in a bright light. _

**You're giving me too many things  
Lately, you're all I need  
You smiled at me and said**

_Mike found himself standing a pure white void and turned around to see an elderly man and someone in a black and red tight suit with a black mask walking through a pair of opening doors. The doors and the elderly man vanished and black suited man held out a hand to Mike. Mike's eyes widened as the man's black mask suddenly enveloped him. He was standing in a dark void with something shining in his hand. He opened it up to see a golden heart keychain shining in the palm of his hand. _

_He dropped it and it fell into the dark. _

**Don't get me wrong, I love you  
But does that mean I have to meet your father?**

_Suddenly he was standing a barren deserted area surrounding by key shaped weapons with Gwen and Zoey standing a few feet away from him. The golden heart keychain rested in his hand while a Red Flower keychain glowed in Zoey's hands and a Silver Star keychain glowed in Gwen's hands._

**When we are older you'll understand  
What I meant when I said  
'No, I don't think life is quite that simple'**

_The keychains shot out into the air and came together as the images of several people appeared. _

_A girl with long red hair and pink eyes dressed in a pink shirt with a black stripe across the middle._

_A girl with red hair that had a flower on the right side of her head._

_A girl with short black hair and purple eyes dressed in black and purple clothing._

_A woman with cat like characteristics in a black dress._

_A girl with dark skin and blue colored hair and orange eyes._

_A girl with blond hair wearing a white-shirt over a black T-shirt and purple pants._

_A girl with pink hair, light pink skin, wearing a pink dress with a crown._

_They came together and formed a key shaped weapon…_

**When you walk away  
You don't hear me say**

_The old man raised his right hand as a man wearing armor attacked him with a key shaped weapon. He released an icy blast that froze the armored man's hand and traveled up his arm. A smaller armored warrior leapt at the old man while his back was turned but he vanished as the key shaped sword slashed at him and appeared right behind the warrior, grabbing him by the back of his head and lifted him over his shoulder despite his age. At the bottom of the mountain a red armored warrior stood up as the helmet shattered, revealing it was Zoey._

**'Please, oh baby, don't go'**

_She froze as she found herself in a white void and Mike walked right past her. She brought her hands to her chest over her heart and a tear shed down her face as she felt like she had lost something precious to her. _

**Simple and Clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go**

_The smaller warrior was engulfed with black flames for a second before being replaced with by an icy blue mist that froze the warrior completely. The old man released the frozen warrior and dropped him off the cliff._

**Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a latter later  
Regardless of warning the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before**

_The brunette ran down a white colored hall with a mist of darkness chasing at him. He was then replaced by Cameron who wore a black T-shirt under a white jacket with dark baggy pants and white sneakers who ran down a dark hall with images of different places and people appearing on the wall. He ran into a white light where Gwen was waiting, wondering with a fearful look on her face. She was then transported to a desert littered with key shaped weapons, holding a frozen Cameron with both wearing armor and small bruises seen on Gwen's face._

**Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a latter later  
Regardless of warning the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before**

_A flaming orb that was colored purple and white appeared in palm of the smiling old man's hand as he lifted up over his head. It launched from his hand like a rocket and vanished into the clouded sky. The clouds were parted as bright light shined through it. Gwen looked up with Cameron still in her arms while Zoey who was lying on the ground opened her eyes to see what was shining down on them._

_A gigantic bright shining Heart._

_The brunette looked up with a look of hate as his eyes turned yellow. Suddenly the brunette fell into darkness with multiple key shaped weapons surrounding him as he seemingly slept. He turned into Zoey who then changed into Gwen, then Cameron, and finally Mike who opened his eyes to see himself landing on a glass shaped mural. The blades all landed on the mural surrounding him as he looked around with a confused look._

_He watched as there was a bright light and then…_

_Nothing._

Xxx

"This is the best you could gather for me, Mclean?"

"Hey, it was a lot of hard work, all right? But yeah, these losers are the definite guinea pigs for what you want."

"Very well. One or two of them stand out already." The mysterious man was looking at multiple screens lined along the walls. "It's nice to see you did your work in separating the strong from the weak but even then there's no guarantee this will work."

"I could always make another season with another batch of losers."

"And wait a whole other year? I'm a busy man, Mclean. I don't have time to wait while you search for more amusement."

"Fine by me. Wouldn't want to keep the boss man waiting or the billions waiting for me." Chris chuckled.

"No, we wouldn't." The man chuckled. "Wake them up and begin the procedure."

Xxx

"Ugh..." In a large room that was full of heavy sacks a feminine voice groaned inside one of them.

The girl inside slowly opened her eyes seeing only darkness and tried to move her arms. She felt the sack wrapped around her entire body and started to try flailing her arms and kicking her legs out. She tore through the sack easily, ripping it open and standing up. She gasped and took a deep breath of fresh air before she looked around.

"What the hell?" She looked and saw the three other bags around in the room around her, each one probably having someone in them.

She knelt down to the bag closest to her and slowly ripped open the bag revealing a girl with red hair in pigtails and with a flower.

"Whoa!" She gasped, waking up the person she found.

"Ah!" The other person shouted in a higher pitched feminine as she sat up. "Wh-where am I?"

"Got me on that one." The other girl replied. "I just came to... Zoey?"

The girl looked up at her when she heard her name. "Gwen?"

Both Gwen and Zoey had competed in the fifth Total Drama season; Total Drama All Stars which had ended when Camp Wawanaka was destroyed on the final episode of the season.

"Where are we?" Zoey asked as she ripped the bag off and stood up.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember was...waiting for the boat to pick us up. We were on piece of debris because Chef used a hydraulics machine and caused the island to sink." Gwen ran a hand through her hair. "That was probably the best thing to ever happen to that _place_."

"Now I remember!" Zoey gasped. "We were just getting on the boat and then...I blacked out."

"Zoey?" A male voice asked in a bag next to her.

"Mike!" Zoey ripped the bag open to reveal her boyfriend.

She hugged him and he hugged her back. They had been through so much during the latest Total Drama season, battling Mike's evil personality named Mal who Mike defeated when he reset his own mind and absorbed all of his personalities into himself.

"Hello?" The final bag asked.

"Cameron?" Gwen opened the bag and saw the young boy inside the bag.

"Gwen?" Cameron found his glasses and put them on. "Where are we?"

"We're still working on that." Gwen replied.

"What happened?" Mike asked as he stood up.

"What's the last thing you two remember?" Zoey asked.

"We were sitting on that roof when the island sunk, waiting for someone to rescue us. There was a boat...I can't remember anything else after that." Cameron slowly answered.

"Me neither." Mike agreed.

That was when the door opened, making everyone go silent as a familiar person walked in.

"CHRIS!" Everyone shouted.

"Hey, you're awake. About time and on schedule." Chris chuckled.

"Chris, what the hell is going on?" Gwen growled. "Why are we here? I thought we were off your stupid show for good!"

"Oh you are. As for why you're all here that's simple. A buddy of mine needs you for an important project."

"Yeah right, you can't just drag us back in!" Zoey glared.

" Actually I can. But don't worry; it's not for another season." Chris chuckled again. "Like I said, a buddy of mine has asked for you three because he believes you guys are special, different from the rest of the losers who have been on my show. Cameron was just along for the ride."

"What are you talking about?" Zoey asked. "What do you mean special?"

"Don't really know." Chris shrugged. "The point that you're his problem now. Be sure to be on your best manners. Oh wait, you won't have to leave this room for what's he planning."

"Are you mad?!" Mike demanded. "Are you nuts?! Are you bonkers?! Are you-are you-"

"He's Chris." Gwen interrupted. "Enough said. And we're not staying here."

"Sorry, Gwen, can't let that happen." Chris held out a remote and pressed the big red button.

Suddenly the four teens found themselves unable to move as a strange light covered them.

"I can't move my feet!" Zoey cried out.

"Me neither!" Mike replied.

"Relax. This won't hurt a bit." Chris put the remote away. "But...it might be just as life threatening. I'll have to ask later."

Chris stopped and stared at Cameron who was sweating with fear now. "Hm...he did say only three...but one more couldn't hurt."

Chris then pulled out what looked like a keychain with a ruby red heart at the end with wings wrapped around it. The heart slowly started to glow brightly.

"Let's get the show started." Chris laughed.

"Okay you have officially gone in-sa...wha..." Gwen trailed off as her vision was engulfed by a bright light.

"Gw..." Zoey tried to speak but a bright light covered her vision too.

"Wha..happ..." Cameron groaned, struggling to see through the light.

The next time they opened their eyes they were not in the room with Chris anymore. They opened their eyes to see themselves falling through the sky towards an ocean.

"WHY ARE WE FALLING?!" Zoey screamed out.

"ZOEY!" Mike screamed and reached out towards her.

They didn't have a chance to touch as they landed in the water with loud splash. They all thought they were going to die but instead they didn't feel a thing and managed to stand up with their clothes and hair dripping.

"What happened?" Cameron rubbed his glasses.

"Chris must have shot us through that catapult he had in the third season." Gwen shook her head and turned to see... "No way."

"What is...Whoa!" Mike yelped.

Standing before them was Total Drama Island.

"I thought this stinking island sank." Gwen said as they walked onto the beach.

It was obviously night with the dark sky, the shining stars, and the blue moon.

"The blue moon. Just like before." Gwen trailed off. "When all the animals became the opposite of what they were."

"Hey! Look!" Cameron pointed to the sky.

They looked up to see a yellow colored planet sitting next to the moon.

"Is that a planet?" Zoey asked.

"That's a little weird." Gwen commented. "All right. That's it. This is officially a dream."

"Why does it have to be a dream?"

The four turned to see the rest of the Heroic Hamsters except for Sierra and Duncan with Owen and Dawn standing with them.

"Isn't it wonderful, Gwen?" Owen asked.

"Guys?" Mike asked. "What's going on?"

"I thought nothing would surprise you guys by now." Sam said while Lindsay giggled. "It's just like a big online game with all sorts of surprises."

"The universe is truly diverse with so much we have yet to see." Dawn said with a peaceful smile.

"What do you mean?" Zoey asked.

"A universe with infinite worlds, so different, so diverse, with people we never imagined existing unless we saw them with our own eyes." Lindsay said.

"Lindsay?" Gwen asked.

"What is it you guys are afraid of?" Dawn asked.

"Huh?" Cameron asked.

"I asked what are you it you guys are afraid of." Dawn repeated.

"...Okay, who are you guys?" Gwen narrowed her eyes. "You are not our friends. They wouldn't talk like this."

"Wise as always, Gwen." Owen chuckled. "But you never answered the question."

"Why do we have to be afraid of anything?" Mike asked.

"Everyone is afraid of something. They may say otherwise but they all fear something and they never move past it until they confront it."

The four shared looks with each other.

"Okay..." Mike stepped forward. "I was afraid that when Mal made me think he was the real personality and not me. It meant everything I felt for Zoey and anyone else was not actually...me."

"Mike." Zoey put a hand on Mike's shoulder. "I knew you were the real one all along."

"Yeah." Mike smiled back at Zoey who stepped forward.

"I was afraid I would be alone with no friends. I didn't any growing up when I tried to be friendly with smiles and nice manners." Zoey answered with a confident smile. "But that all changed when I came to Total Drama. I met Mike and everyone else."

When the last two didn't answer for a second Gwen sighed. "All right, if we answer will you tell us what you guys are?"

She considered the silence her answer.

"I'm afraid of people judging me for the mistakes I've done for the rest of my life. I don't want to be labelled as a bad person even if I might have looked the part. I never trusted anyone new easily... but as bad as life on that stupid reality show I don't regret going on it, meeting all of the others and the few friendships that I made and probably lost. I'm not a bad person, a villain, or even the New Heather, I'm just...someone who screws up a lot." Gwen let out a sad sigh.

She had it a little rough through the years. Her friendship with most of the original Total Drama cast was strained, because of her relationship with Duncan or because they pretty much moved on from Total Drama. While some like Cody, Trent, Harold, and Justin continued their little boy band most of the others were going off to school and such had very little time for friendship. She kept a good friendship with Cody and Owen for the most part but for most of her friends she rarely saw them anymore. DJ moved back to Jamaica, Bridgette and Geoff went off dating, while LeShawna went off to dance school.

She would have moved on too, if not for wanting to patch things up with Courtney and finally stop feeling guilty for her mistake in Season Three.

Cameron and Zoey each put a hand on her shoulders.

"We all make mistakes." Zoey offered comfortably. "They don't define who you are even everyone else says otherwise."

"Yeah, you don't see us calling you a villain or New Heather." Cameron said with a smile. "If you were a villain, would you have protected me when I joined the Vultures?"

"Or save us when Ezekiel trapped us in the mine?" Zoey asked with a smile.

"Or help Zoey try and stop Mal?" Mike said, smiling with the others.

Gwen smiled happily with a look of relief in her eyes. "Thanks."

"I guess I'm up now huh?" Cameron asked as he stepped forward. "I could say I'm scared of a lot of stuff but I don't think that's the answer you are looking for. The truth is...I'm scared of being useless. I'm not strong like Joe, Lightning, or Zoey, I'm not brave like Mike or Gwen and I'm a midget compared to my friends. All I got is my brain and there are times when I think it's not enough."

"Even when you helped me control my personalities?" Mike asked.

"Or when you sacrificed yourself to help me stop Ezekiel from killing Chris?" Gwen asked.

"Or when you defeated Lightning in the season three finale?" Zoey asked.

Cameron blushes from the praise he was getting and rubbed the back of his head.

"Someone's shy." Gwen snickered.

"I guess I'm up next." Zoey looked at the group watching them. "I'm scared that any friends I make might find me…weird. I tried to being friendly and nice but I never exactly…fit in. I was never invited to parties, sleepovers, or trips with anyone. I thought coming onto Total Drama would change things and it did and I'm afraid that it'll go back…and I'll be alone."

"No way. That'll never happen." Mike stepped up and hugged Zoey. "Not while I'm here."

"Me neither." Cameron walked up and put a hand on Zoey's shoulder.

"Count me in." Gwen smiled as she laid a hand on Zoey's other shoulder. "We may not have known each other for long but I've learned to hold onto friendships."

"You guys…" Zoey smiled tearfully as she grabbed all three in a hug which they returned.

"I guess it's my turn." Mike pulled away from the hug and looked at the watchers. "I got scared a lot when I couldn't control my alternate personalities. People would think I'm a freak because I was one person one minute and then another the next. Then there was Mal, because of him I was thrown in Juvie where I got help but Mal came back and I spent every second trapped in my mind worried that he might kill anyone close to me."

"But he didn't." Zoey held Mike's cheeks in her hands. "You won and he's gone."

"Yeah Mike. You made it." Cameron said and Gwen nodded in agreement.

"Are they all so bad?" Dawn asked, earning the group's attention.

"What's the matter if someone has an opinion about you? Or if you can't help everyone?" Owen asked.

"If you guys try your best and it's not enough than is it really your fault?" Lindsay asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Gwen asked as she frowned. "We answered your questions so tell us what's going on already."

"Very well." They all said at the same time just as another bright light blinded them.

All four of them closed their eyes and seemed to fall backwards. The odd thing was that they did not fall back onto the floor of the room they woke up in. All they could feel was themselves falling through what looked like a dark void that they saw when they opened their eyes. They could see each other which was odd because you're not supposed to see through complete darkness.

They tried to speak but they couldn't hear each other. In fact they couldn't hear anything at all. All they could do was continue to fall through the black void they somehow ended up in, even though there was no logical explanation of how they got there.

SPLASH!

Just when they thought they were going to fall forever they suddenly felt the cool sensation of water along with a splashing sound filling their ears as they landed in the water. They tried to swim back up to the surface but to their shock they were still seemingly falling or sinking to the dark bottom of the sea they had landed in. They struggled and struggled while trying to hold their breath for as long as possible, until they couldn't. The released air came out in the form of bubbles and they all realized they were about to drown.

Except they didn't.

They finally reached the bottom of the dark abyss they had found themselves in and to their shock the water vanished, allowing them to breathe fresh air.

"Guys..." Mike said after a moment of silence. "Do you have any idea where we are? For a second I thought I was stuck in my head again."

"I have no freaking clue." Gwen looked around. "What drugs did Chris put us on?"

A light flashed in the center between the four, blinding them for a second before white doves flew out from the light. As the light expanded outward more white birds flew up from the grounds with it, moving past the teens, showing colors such as red, blue, and green until it stopped, revealing a large platform with what looked look like a giant mural.

"Whoa!" Zoey's jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

"Is that..." Mike started.

"Us?" Gwen finished.

The mural did indeed show all of them except for Cameron for some reason. Mike was in the middle sleeping with a sword held in his hands resembling the same sword he lifted to win Total Drama All Stars, resting on his chest. Zoey was on the right while Gwen was on the left, looking like they falling backwards as they faced each other and Mike but their eyes were closed like Mike's. Zoey held a shield while Gwen held what looked to be a staff, a wand, or a combination of both.

"That's not all. Look above us." Zoey pointed to the top of the mural.

Above the three were smaller portraits of several people they knew in a circular pattern.

"Cody, Owen, Lindsay, Cameron." Gwen said out loud. "And another girl and guy from the fourth season."

"Dawn and Brick." Zoey answered.

"And look here." Cameron pointed further on the edge of the portrait.

A ring surrounded the portrait, showing smaller pictures of everyone from both generations of Total Drama contestants.

"It's everyone else who competed with us." Mike realized.

"But why are Cody, Owen, Lindsay, Cameron, Dawn and Brick's paintings inside the ring and why are me, Mike, and Gwen painted like that?" Zoey asked.

"This could be just another hallucination from Chris so there's not much of a logical explanation." Gwen said.

**So much to do...**

The four of them stopped when they heard what they thought was a mysterious voice whispering into their ears even though no one actually spoke.

**So little time...**

"Did you guys hear that?" Zoey asked.

"You mean a creepy voice whispering inside my head? If so then yes." Gwen answered.

**Take your time, don't be afraid. The door has been unlocked but there is still time**

Cameron looked back and forth but he couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. In fact he didn't actually believe there really was a voice. He thought he was dreaming but to be honest he just _knew_ that all of this real.

"What door? Who are you?" Zoey asked.

**I am that which lies within**

"Right. That helps a lot." Gwen sarcastically replied. "Can you tell us where we are? Why are we here?"

**You have dived into that which lies within**

"...Right, questions are a waste of time. Got it." Gwen raised her hands as if she was surrendering.

**The Trinity must step into the middle to begin**

"Trinity?" Gwen asked.

"I think it's talking about you three." Cameron spoke up and pointed at the center of the mural. "The three of you, it's a trinity."

"But why?" Zoey asked. "Why are we like this?"

"I don't know. Guess we have no choice but to do it." Mike shrugged as he stepped into the middle.

Zoey and Gwen looked at each other before they followed Mike and stepped into the middle.

"Okay, we're in the middle now. Now what, Mister Voice?" Gwen called out.

Three pillars rose up from different sections the mural and a flash of light appeared on top of each pillar.

**Three have been chosen and three paths lay before you. Great power sleeps within you, the path you choose will help give it form and give you strength**

"Three paths." Cameron looked down at the mural. "Look down at the painting."

They looked down again at the images of themselves, seeing the sword, the shield, and the staff.

**Choose well**

Mike looked down at the picture of himself holding the sword.

**Do you choose the path of warrior, invincible courage and strength?**

The sword glowed brightly.

**The path of the protector, unmatched defence and fortitude?**

The shield was illuminated next.

**Or the path of mystic, inner strength and knowledge?**

The staff was the last to glow brightly.

"I think I get it, now. It's asking you three to choose which weapon suits you best." Cameron realized.

"Suits us best? I've only ever used a bow." Zoey replied.

"I'm not warrior." Mike shook his head.

"Considering how tough you were when you were one of your other personalities that's not entirely true. It sounds more like a test of character." Gwen pointed out.

"Maybe that's why it's showing a picture of you with the staff, Gwen." Cameron pointed at the painting of Gwen on the mural. "Looks like it's been decided."

"Maybe." Gwen nodded as she looked at Zoey and Mike. "Well, shall we?"

Mike looked at the sword for a second. "Well, I already pulled out one sword today."

He walked over to the sword and grasped it with both of his hands. It was easy to life and yet it felt like he was lifting Excalibur itself from the story of King Arthur and Camelot.

**The path of the warrior has been chosen. What will you give up in exchange?**

"Give up?" Mike asked.

**To wield great power one must be willing to sacrifice. You must give up either the protector or the mystic.**

Mike looked at the shield and the staff. "Okay...I give up...the mystic."

**Very well. You have given up the power of the mystic. Now another must choose their path.**

Mike walked back to Gwen and Zoey, holding the sword in his right hand. "That wasn't so hard. Nothing as bad as what Chris usually does."

"Please don't jinx us, Mike. We're not done yet." Gwen pointed out.

"I guess I'll go next." Zoey stepped forward.

**Which of the three paths will you choose?**

Another sword appeared on the pillar where the previous resided. Zoey looked at the sword, the shield, and the staff before she made her choice.

"Well, I'd like to think I'm a tough girl and I'd like to believe I'm smart but I think I'm better suited with the protector. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to protect my friends from anything bad?" She asked as she walked up to the shield.

**The path of the protector has been chosen. What will you give up in exchange?**

"What will I give up?" Zoey looked between the sword and the staff. "I think I'll give up...the warrior."

**Very well. You have given up the power of the warrior. Now the final member of the trinity must choose their path**

"That's me, I guess." Gwen sighed as she walked forward.

She looked down at the painting of herself and up at the darkness surrounding them. "If you're showing this then you obviously think you know which one I'll pick."

**The mural represents the connection that has been forged between your hearts. It does not represent the path you choose; only the path you represent.**

"So Mike's a fighter, Zoey's a protector, and I'm like some kind of magician?" Gwen asked.

**The path of the mystic represents wisdom, the desire to learn, to understand, and to grow.**

Gwen was silent as she thought it over. "I guess you have a point."

She sighed as she walked over the staff and picked it up. "My mom always said I was smarter or more mature than people who were my age."

**The path of the mystic has been chosen. What will you give up in exchange?**

"The warrior." Gwen stated without needing to think it over. "I'm good at fighting but I'm not a brawler."

**Very well. You have given up the power of the warrior.**

"So now what?" Gwen asked. "What about Cameron?"

The staff she took was replaced by another duplicate just like all the other times a weapon was taken.

**If he wishes to survive he too must choose. Even if his heart is not strong enough to survive these trials his survival is dependent on yours**

Cameron gulped and stepped forward. Like Gwen he chose the staff and gave up the power of the warrior. With the tests down the three pillars vanished into flashes of light.

"So now what?" Gwen asked.

**The next test is ahead of you. All you must do is take the first step**

A series of stairs appeared in front of the four, leading up into the darkened sky above them.

"Guess we go up." Mike said as he was the one to start walking.

The other three hesitantly followed him up the stairs. The climb to wherever they were going next was uneventful for them. Cameron almost slipped and fell off the stairs but a green barrier blocked him from falling over. The climb lasted for three whole minutes before they walked up to another platform with a mural much like the first one.

This time was decorated with orange flames showing the members of the Villainous Vultures with the exception of Gwen and Cameron. They all saw Mike in his Mal persona in the middle with Heather, Scott, Duncan, and Courtney on the left while Jo, Lightning, Ezekiel, and Alejandro were on the right laughing with their eyes closed. Mal was holding a dark and grey looking blade that was shaped like a key for some odd reason and above them was what looked like a black hole, engulfing everything in its reach.

"It's all the villains and Mal." Zoey said as they walked into the new platform.

"Except for me." Gwen muttered softly.

"Don't think like that. You're anything but evil or a villain, despite what anyone else says." Cameron put a hand on Gwen's shoulder.

She smiled in gratitude and noticed something. "Cameron, you're arm."

"What?" Cameron looked at it.

"It's not in a cast and it can move." Gwen pointed out. "It's not broken!"

"Hey, Gwen's right!" Mike realized. "We didn't notice that until now!"

"Wow." Cameron looked at his arm. "I didn't notice that until now. It feels like it was never broken at all." He looked around and then down at the mural. "Wow. All the villains though on this mural, and not to mention Mal. What do you think that means?"

"It looks like it represents all the bad guys on the show." Gwen winced as she looked at Mike. "Sorry, Mike, no offence."

"No problem." Mike smiled and shook his head. "That part of me is gone for good and he's never going to hurt anyone again."

"Anyways...I've learned a few things about art over the years. That first portrait we saw it was like...we were all somehow connected to each other, even if we didn't know everyone very well." Gwen continued.

"It does make sense. We all competed on Total Drama." Zoey agreed. "Even if we didn't meet everyone who competed on every season we were in or know them very well."

"And this one..." Gwen looked at the new mural. "It's...like all of them are expressing how evil they can be. They did a good job acting like villains this season."

"And look at the blade Mal is holding." Cameron pointed out. "Is it like some way of saying he was the evillest?"

"Don't know, Cam. This whole thing is messed up." Gwen shrugged. "So now what?"

A whooshing sound answered Gwen's question as the stairs they had walked up to get to the second platform vanished. That was not the end as a pillar of darkness appeared in the center of the platform.

"Oh boy." Mike said as he raised his sword.

Gwen and Zoey followed his actions while Cameron hung back.

**Prepare yourselves. You will need to be strong for the trials**

Something emerged from the pillar of darkness but at first it was hard to tell what it was before the pillar vanished. It looked like a small, completely black monster with pointed antennas, twitching limbs and bright yellow eyes that stared at the teens. They shivered for a second because the stare was so intense; they felt like small mice staring at the predator that found its next meal.

**Heartless, the manifestation of darkness that lies within all things**

More insect like monsters appeared and moved towards the teens.

"Stay behind us Cam!" Mike said as he swung his sword.

It sliced through the first Heartless easily and it dissolved into a black puddle that vanished a second later. The other creatures continued to walk towards them, their limbs twitching as they tried to reach out with their tiny claws.

"Here they come." Zoey said, holding up her shield. "I just hope these things work."

Another Heartless leapt forward but Gwen ran forward and whacked it on its head with her staff. She stepped back as another leapt at her but Zoey jumped forward and blocked the claws with her shield. She swung her arm out and sent the creature flying back and it splattered into a black puddle as it hit the floor.

"Thanks Zoey." Gwen smiled.

"No problem." Zoey smiled back as they quickly stood next to Mike. "How do we take them all out?"

"Mike, you and Gwen attack. Zoey you use the shield to cover their blind spots." Cameron recommended.

"Good." Mike nodded as he held up his sword before he ran forward. "Okay, here I go!"

"I got your back!" Gwen followed him.

"And I got your backs!" Zoey ran after her friend and boyfriend.

Mike slashed through the Heartless while Gwen whacked any Heartless that slipped past him with her staff. Zoey let out a shout as she charged through any Heartless with her shield, knocking them down and leaving them dissolve into nothing. Cameron ran behind Zoey so he wouldn't be left open to attack. They were working together perfectly, despite the strange situation they found themselves in.

Mike hacked and slashed at anything in his reach, moving as fast as he could to avoid getting hit. Gwen swung her staff and bashed any Heartless near her and then moved back to avoid Heartless that tried to attack her. Zoey stepped in and blocked any Heartless attacks aimed at the two while watching Cameron and making sure nothing slipped by her guard. It took them several minutes but the Heartless were soon all gone.

"We did it!" Mike shouted happily as he hugged Zoey.

Zoey hugged back while Gwen and Cameron exchanged high fives. Mike and Zoey then exchanged high fives with them when they broke apart and let out sighs of relief.

**You all have strong hearts. Few have made it past this part of the trial**

A second set of stairs appeared before them.

"Before we go, what exactly were those things? You said they were Heartless? What are they?" Gwen asked.

**They are the embodiment of the darkness found in all beings. Hatred, anger, sorrow, pride, envy, greed, pride, and fear. They are part of existence but there are those who become so steeped in darkness that they lose themselves**

"You mean those were..." Mike started, his eyes going wide at the implications.

**Do not mourn them. They were nothing more than images created to test the strength of your hearts. Be wary as the true Heartless are stronger and they never travel alone in their journey to overwhelm the light.**

"Okay. Now what?" Gwen prompted.

**The last test...**

"Cool. Come on." Mike started up the stairs.

The other three followed him and the trip was just as uneventful as the previous trip. When they reached the platform they saw it was different from the other ones they was of three armored figures holding weapons that were oddly shaped like keys with an image of the world with a heart in the center behind them.

"This is different, even from the other two." Gwen said, looking over the mural. "I don't know what to make of this..."

**The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.**

They spun around and saw their shadows growing bigger and longer before they somehow pulled themselves out of the ground. They combined together to form an even larger shadow that formed into a giant monstrous version of the Heartless they had encountered on the second platform with a heart shaped hole in the chest.

"HOLY COW!" Mike shouted.

Gwen and Zoey stepped back with widened eyes and jaws nearly dropping to the ground.

**Darkside, a manifestation of the darkness within worlds. Drawn to the most powerful hearts and only appear when a world is on the brink of being swallowed in darkness**

"Darkside?" Cameron asked.

It seemed to be an apt name for the monster in front of them.

"LOOK OUT!" Gwen shouted.

They almost had no time to react as the Darkside swung its arm at them. Zoey held up her shield and tried to block the attack but it slammed her into Mike and Gwen and knocked them down.

"GUYS!" Cameron shouted and ran over to help them up.

"Oh man!" Mike gulped.

"What do we do?" Zoey asked.

"We take it down!" Gwen said as she stood up. "If we don't fight we'll die! You heard what that voice said. If we don't try to take it out, we're dead and even if one of us isn't in this stupid challenge they will still die."

"She's right! Come on you guys! You can take it! I think." Cameron said.

The Darkside lifted its giant hand up into the air, forming it into a tight fist and slammed it into the center of the platform. A swirling portal of darkness surrounded it and released more imp like Heartless that scuttled towards the teens.

"Looks we got to try!" Mike swung his sword through the Heartless that tried to attack them. "Let's do it!"

"Right! Let's go!" Zoey was the first to charge at the giant monster with Mike and Gwen behind her.

"Good luck guys." Cameron whispered as he watched them charge at the giant beast.

Zoey blocked any beast attacking them while Gwen and Mike attacked the monster's giant hand. They managed to leave several small wounds on the monster's hand before it lifted its hand up and out of their reach. The Darkside tried attacking them again but this time they were ready and dodged it easily. All those times they were competing on Total Drama with Chris torturing them had given them a sixth sense to danger and they learned how to move fast when in danger, which was nearly all the time.

The monster kept trying to slam its fists down on the annoying humans and they all managed to dodge. Finally Mike had enough and launched himself at the right fist as it missed Gwen and slashed at with his sword. The Darkside roared and swept its fist at Mike, knocking him back.

"Mike!" Zoey cried.

Gwen looked at the best as it towered over them, ready to attack again. This was getting them nowhere. They weren't hurting it enough to do any damage and it was getting really annoyed with them. If something was not done soon then they would be hurt or worse, killed. She held up her staff and looked at it. She didn't know why she thought it would do any damage; it didn't even have a sharp blade.

But according to that stupid voice it was a weapon and it was a weapon for power inside of her.

"This is so stupid." She muttered as she looked up at the Darkside as it tried to smash Zoey with its fist. "But here goes."

Gripping the staff tightly she threw it with all of her might. It sailed through air and actually embedded itself into the Darkside's right eye. The beast let out a scream as it fell over from the sudden pain.

"Mike! Hurry and take it out while it's distracted!" Gwen shouted.

"You got it!" Mike ran forward and jumped into the air, raising his sword above his head. "Take this!"

He plunged his sword into the monster's forehead, earning one final scream before it dissolved into fumes of darkness that vanished a second later.

"That was close." Mike sighed in relief.

He leaned down and picked up Gwen's staff and handed it to her as she along with the other walked up to him.

"That was some throw. I didn't know you were that good at sports." Mike handed the staff back to Gwen.

"I'm not. I don't even know how I did that." She replied as she examined the staff in her hand. "There's nothing sharp enough to have done that and I wasn't that strong."

**Do not be afraid. You have succeeded**

They looked up when they heard the voice again.

"Yeah we did. But what is this about? Did Chris or his friend set this up? Why these strange challenges?" Gwen asked.

**The trial was not made by any mortal. A conduit was used to force you all to undertake this trial**

"So why? Why do this to us?" Zoey asked.

**The three of you survived because of the strength of your hearts, that is what makes your weapons powerful and that power will unlock the greatest weapon of all. But be warned, this power cannot be given back. Remember the lessons of this trial and stay true to the light within and you will be able to do great things.**

The platform began to break apart.

"What's happening now?!" Cameron cried.

**Always remember that it is darkest before dawn**

The platform shattered and they all screamed as they fell into the darkness.


	2. Darkness and Light Rising

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

Gwen opened her eyes as she sat up with a loud gasp of air escaping her mouth. She looked around to see she was in a nice looking room. She sighed as she rubbed her and stood up from her bed. She went into the bathroom for a quick shower, feeling better when she came back out and walked out of the room. She walked down the hall and saw she was in a small hotel.

"Hello Miss Gwen." She turned around and saw the butler from the resort Chris had built for the winning team on the island. "I trust you slept well."

"Uh...I did. Thanks." Gwen nodded. "Just how did I get here?"

"Chris sent a boat to find any and all contestants who were still missing after the island had sunk. You along with Master Mike, Cameron, and Miss Zoey were found unconscious on the remains of a cabin's roof." The butler answered. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Gwen's stomach suddenly growled at the mention of breakfast causing her to blush. "Yeah..sounds good to me."

"Very well." The butler gestured for her to follow him as he turned and walked down the hall.

"So, did I miss anything?" Gwen quickly caught up to him.

"Other than the reaction of the whole freaking island sinking? Not much." The butler shook his head.

They walked into the cafe where Gwen spotted Owen making out with Izzy. "Owen? Izzy?"

"Hey Gwen!" Owen broke away from Izzy and waved at her. "How've you been?"

"Fine, I guess." Gwen managed a small smile. "You and Izzy are here. Anyone else?"

"Mike, Zoey, and Cameron along with a few of their friends are here too. You gave everyone a scare when you came in unconscious like that. What happened?" Owen asked.

"I...I have no idea. I guess we blacked out for some reason when we got onto the boat." Gwen shook her head. "I remember being stuck in one of those balloons that Owen inflated with his..." She had to suppress the urge to gag as she remembered the smell.

"Yeah, sorry about that Gwen." Owen rubbed the back of his head.

"I think they're cute." Izzy said as she positioned herself on Owen's lap.

"No problem. Anyways, me and Cameron helped Zoey stop Mal, then Mike won the challenge and then...That idiot Chef sunk the island with all of us on it." Gwen growled softly. "That's all I remember. What happened to the others?"

"Cam, Mike and Zoey were still knocked out last I checked. Heather and Alejandro were swimming for their lives from that mutant shark before they were picked up and the rest...We haven't heard anything about that." The butler answere.

"Hm?" Gwen looked at the butler with a puzzled look.

"The wind blew the balloons away from the island and they floated up into the sky. Master Chris didn't try to save them; he just let them float off into the distance. The balloons could be flying up at such a high altitude that it might take a plane or a helicopter to reach them." The butler answered.

"I don't even want to imagine how the others feel. I can only imagine how Tyler must be feling" Gwen shook her head. "He's probably been screaming at Chris to find Lindsay."

"Indeed."The butler nodded. "He wasn't the only one worried. That Dakota girl's been screaming for Master Sam and Mr. Cody has been calling us, sounding worried for Lady Sierra."

"I guess everyone would be after what happened." Gwen nodded.

"At least you got the chance to give Heather a good whacking." Owen chuckled. "Now that was epic!"

"Well, she had it coming. Too bad, that Chris had to go make us try to fight over the money again. She actually turned off the bitch switch when she wasn't competing. Reminded me of Geoff and Bridgette. Except they were more lovey-dovey then sucking face." Gwen continued with a small laugh. "I can't believe I actually used the words 'lovey-dovey' and 'Alejandro' _and _'Heather' in the _exact_ same sentence."

"Like you're one to talk. The way you and Courtney were behaving." Izzy retorted. "Can anyone say new Katie and Sadie?"

At the mention of Courtney Gwen frowned and Izzy had the decency to wince.

"Oh, sorry, Gwen. I knew it hurt when Courtney planned to eliminate you after saying she'd take you to the finals."

"Forget it. It's done." Gwen shook her head. "There's nothing good from thinking about that and to be honest I've moved on. If they ever get her back down to Earth she can keep Total Drama, the money, Duncan, Scott, or whoever wants to put up with her."

"Come on, Gwen, it's not like this isn't what Courtney does." Owen weakly pointed out.

"Bridge, I went through all that just to apologize to Courtney for hurting her and I was labelled a villain which got me depressed because I didn't believe I was evil like the others and it was bad enough that it made a rift between me and Duncan. Him thinking about Courtney was just another bonus that screamed we were over. After all I did, all the attempts to make things right, the apologies, and when I think I made it she plots behind my back with that stupid chart. How else am I supposed to feel about this?" Gwen narrowed her eyes softly. "It's over now and I'm not going back there. If she wants to money instead of a best friend than it's her choice and I've pretty much accepted that now."

Owen and Izzy knew enough to not continue that sensitive topic.

"The point is I'm done now. Apologizing to Courtney was the only reason I had for going back onto that stupid show so now I can put it behind me." Gwen continued. "Let Chris find a whole new cast of suckers to torture."

"Amen to that, sister." Izzy agreed. "But I would have liked to play with Chef at least one more time. I guess I could drop in for the next season."

"Totally." Owen nodded.

"Now then," Gwen stood up. "Time to get some food. I'm starving."

She saw the food was well cooked and eatable as she grabbed a plate and started to pick some bacon and bread up.

"Your aura has changed."

"Hm?" Gwen turned around to see girl with pale blond hair, Dawn from Season Four staring at her. "Excuse me?"

"You aura was always midnight blue, shrouded in mystery but now there's a bright light shining inside of you." Dawn pointed at her chest. "It's shining right there."

Gwen raised a single eyebrow. "Please don't do that. I've had a rough day and I'm in the mood for anything weird."

She knew it was rude but she was in an irritable mode right now and just wanted some peace and quiet. Dawn didn't seem to mind.

"Yes. We all need some good rest for the moment." Dawn nodded with a smile.

Gwen shook her head as she grabbed a juice box and walked away. She didn't know what Dawn was talking about and to be honest she wasn't interested. As she sat down she noticed Cameron walking to get his food. The two shared a glance for a second before Gwen shrugged it off with a small smile.

Cameron smiled back before going to get his food.

Xxx

Mike and Zoey were sitting on the beach in front of the brand new Playa Des Losers, simply enjoying the sun. Zoey sat against Mike who had an arm wrapped around her as they watched blue sky and the lake in front of them.

"It's so beautiful." Zoey whispered.

"Yeah." Mike agreed, leaning against Zoey's head.

After a season of dealing with Chris, Chef, piranhas, animals turned dangerous by the Blue Moon, Total Drama Island sinking into the lake, and Mal it was nice to finally be over.

"Hey Mike?" Zoey asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you remember anything about when the island sank? Like something weird happening?" Zoey suddenly asked.

"Not really. Why?" Mike looked down at Zoey.

"I just remember having a strange dream. It's hard to remember but I remember...falling...and monsters with big yellow eyes." Zoey slowly explained as she struggled to remember.

"We were fighting it and Gwen and Cam were with us." Mike continued.

Zoey looked at up at Mike with widened eyes. "You had the same dream?"

"I just remember now. We fell through this pitch black place and then we fell into the bottom of this sea and then...it felt so real." Mike continued.

"I know. It felt real to me too." Zoey nodded.

"You auras are different too."

"GAH!" Mike and Zoey jumped in surprise when they heard a voice behind them.

They looked behind them to see Dawn sitting on a tree stump, looking at a bird that had landed in her hands.

"Dawn?" Zoey asked.

"You two have bright lights shining in the center of your auras." Dawn said as she allowed the bird to fly away. "It shines so bright where your hearts are."

"Our hearts?" Zoey asked. "Dawn...did you see Gwen or Cameron yet?"

"Cameron's aura is no different than it was before. But Gwen's aura has a bright light inside of her as well." Dawn answered. "It shines as bright as a star."

Mike and Zoey shared a look, wondering if the dream was real. They remembered seeing Gwen and Cameron in their dream and they were with them when the island sunk.

"I've never seen anyone's aura like that before." Dawn commented. "I wonder what could have happened to make such a thing happen."

"Dawn, you're stating to scare me a bit." Zoey said, feeling anxious now.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to frighten you." Dawn stood and stepped off the stump. "I never before seen what I now see in the three of you so it surprised me for a moment."

"What do you mean?" Mike asked.

"The light I see inside of you is like a star, shining bright and when I see I feel something. Something that instantly tells it doesn't just look like a star but I can feel waves of power from it." Dawn explained. "Did anything strange happen to you yesterday?"

Yesterday.

The day the final episode of the fifth season of Total Drama was aired and ended with the island sinking to the bottom of the lake.

"Well, we sat on that piece of debris for hours before the boat came and picked us up. I think we either blacked out or just fell asleep after that." Mike rubbed the back of his head.

"And nothing else happened?" Dawn asked.

"I don't think so." Zoey hesitantly answered. "Why?"

Dawn only shook her head. "Nothing. Oh, someone came by asked me to give these to you."

She held out two key chains with a ruby red flower or a golden heart attached to them that had what looked like wings wrapped around them.

"He said it was a token of appreciation for competing this year in Total Drama." Dawn explained.

Mike and Zoey each took a keychain and looked them. They looked very pretty and were probably worth a fortune.

"Enjoy the rest of the day."

They both looked up and saw that Dawn had vanished while they were not looking.

"...I still think she's some kind of wizard." Zoey whispered.

"No kidding." Mike agreed. "You think we should talk to Gwen and Cam?"

"Maybe." Zoey looked thoughtful. "But...can it wait for a little while? I just want to relax."

Mike smiled as he sat back down and invited her next to him. "No problem."

Zoey smiled as she sat down and wrapped her arm around Mike's shoulder.

Xxx

Gwen was sitting against a tree with her sketchbook in her lab. She was concentrating on drawing the portrait she saw in her dream. The mural was unique and seemed more lifelike than any portrait she had ever seen in her life. To be honest it brought the artist in her and she was trying to see if she could remake it in her sketchbook.

'Trinity. The Warrior, the Protector, and the Mystic.' Gwen thought those words over. 'Sounds like a group of super heroes.'

She didn't what to make of the dream she had or what it meant.

'Doors, monsters with bright glowing eyes literally made of darkness, strength of the heart, and all of us.' Gwen closed her eyes. 'What kind of messed up dream did I have?'

She sighed and shook her head. "What am I thinking about? It was just a stupid dream."

She closed her eyes, wondering if she'd get a decent sleep tonight.

"Hey Gwen."

She looked up to see the familiar form of Cameron smiling nervously. "Is this a bad time?"

"Hey, Cam." Gwen smiled. "You're not bugging me. Come on."

She patted the ground next to her and he sat down against the tree.

"So what's up?" Gwen asked, resting her sketchbook on her lap.

"Just happy that it's over now." Cameron replied. "Things really were crazy this season, huh?"

"You mean for a Total Drama season?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah..." Cameron chuckled weakly. "We went through a lot, not to mention survived the island sinking."

"Nothing better could have happened to that dump." Gwen smirked. "Though, not everything was horrible. Zoey saved Mike, we stopped any villain from winning the money, and made we made some new friends."

"Yeah. That's true." Cameron nodded. "That was nice."

"Is there something bothering you, Cam?" Gwen asked.

"No...not really." Cameron quickly answered. "I was just feeling a little lonely. Mike and Zoey are off somewhere, I don't know a lot of the others here except for Dawn. And I'm still a little scared of Izzy even though she's not dressed as a spider anymore."

Gwen smirked as she glanced at Cameron. "You're a little shy aren't you?"

"Well...Kind of..." Cameron stuttered. "Asides from you, Mike, and Zoey I never really had friends before since I was always in the bubble."

"I can imagine." Gwen chuckled.

To be honest Gwen considered Cameron to more socially inept than Cody or Harold but he at least didn't develop into a semi-creepy stalker, especially when Sierra turned her eyes to him when her PDA was broken.

"On the bright side the bubble kept me from breathing in the toxic fumes of that balloon Chris put me in." Cameron pointed out.

"...I hate you." Gwen suddenly said even though Cameron knew she didn't mean it because of the pout. "If I had known you would haven't had to breathe in those toxic fumes I would have asked for one!"

Cameron laughed weakly. "Too bad that was the only one I brought to the island. Mom's orders. At least you weren't stuck in the balloon for long."

"And I thought my own mother could be a little overprotective." Gwen commented. "You know she paid a neighbourhood girl to dress up as me while I was gone?"

"No way." Cameron gasped. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Gwen chuckled. "She missed me that much."

"Well, I guess almost every mother is overprotective of their child in some way." Cameron chuckled. "Some just...more so than others."

"Amen to that." Gwen laughed.

Xxx

Chris snickered as he watched all of the former contestants through the security cameras at the new Playa Des Losers. "Wow, you'd think they'd have the common sense to remember all that. They have no clue."

"Of course, Mclean." The man in the chair replied smoothly. "The Trial is usually seen as a dream by anyone who dreams it. It does not mean they will not rise when the Darkness falls."

"And the greatest show in the universe will begin." Chris snickered. "Say, why bother needing three of them anyways? Why not use only one?"

"The Trinity can only be used to unlock the gate and help me find what has been locked away." The mysterious man said, looking at the image of Mike and Zoey. "The distortion of the balance between Light and Darkness and open the worlds to Chaos."

"Got to love it. The Chaos that is." Chris commented. "So when does it start?"

"Very soon."

Xxx

_They were falling._

_Their eyes were closed but they could feel the wind rushing through their hair. Then they felt the cool sensation of water as they heard a loud splash as they became completely submerged. Mike opened his eyes and found himself on a grassy plain and saw Zoey waving at him in the distance. Mike smiled and ran towards her._

_Zoey suddenly gasped, covering her mouth and pointed upward. Mike looked up, only to be shocked when he saw himself falling from the sky..._

_And then he found himself falling towards the ground with Zoey watching in horror. He looked down saw a pond just below before he hit it. He closed his eyes just as he hit the pond, sinking down into the dark again._

_He landed in the bottom of the abyss and looked down to see he was on a platform similar to the ones he had seen before. He looked down at it, seeing a painting of him holding a key like sword facing an eviller looking version of himself holding a black and red looking version of his weapon. Mike watched as a dark cloaked figure appeared before him, holding a sword and tried to attack him. The key shaped weapon he saw himself wielding in the portrait appeared in his hands and instantly blocked the sword._

_He could see yellow eyes glaring at him from under the hood._

_The cloaked figure suddenly shoved him back and he fell onto the platform with such force it shattered. Everything seemed to slow down for Mike as he saw various images on the broken shards that fell all around him. _

_Zoey._

_Cameron._

_Gwen._

_Dawn._

_Brick._

_Owen._

_Lindsay._

_Suddenly they all shattered and he fell through the darkness for what felt like forever until..._

"Mike?"

"GAH!" Mike sat up, gasping for air.

"Are you okay?"

He looked down and saw Zoey staring up at him with a worried look. Suddenly he remembered that they were on the beach, watching the waves and the sun.

"...Yeah." Mike sighed. "I must have dozed off and had another weird dream."

"Really? What happened?" Zoey asked.

"I was...falling...No I was on the ground. You looked up and saw me falling and then I _was_ falling into a pond and when I fell I saw...mirrors with people on them...I saw you, I saw some of the others." Mike shook his head. "Zoey, do you feel any different from before?"

"Different? Like how?" Zoey put a finger to her chin.

"Like, there is something going on with us that's making us feel...like there's something out there." Mike pointed to the lake in front of them. "I can't explain it...It's just this feeling."

"Well, maybe it's because you feel different without your other personalities with you now." Zoey suggested.

"Could be. They've been with me for my entire life. I know they're not gone, they'll always be a part of me, but maybe this is what I'm feeling." Mike rubbed the back of his head.

"Maybe." Zoey smiled. "They helped you stop Mal for good, even if it was like giving up their own lives but like you said they'll always be a part of you."

"Thanks Zoey." Mike smiled back at her.

They shared a kiss before staring back at the lake before them.

Xxx

Cameron was walking through the courtyard of Playa Des Losers, grateful that the show was finally over. His mother likely had a heart attack when he was injured and then flushed out of the competition. It would be a miracle if he ever made it out of a bubble again. This was starting to go down and most of the contestants who remained at the place and the few that had not competed but agreed to stay at the place to greet their friends were perhaps about to turn in.

He might just get some dinner and rest up in his room. He still had to wait for his injuries to heal before he could walk around freely again. As he walked into the plaza he stopped when he noticed something. He thought it was his imagination but he could have sworn right now that he was seeing shadows cast by the walls and trees made by the sunset starting to grow in size and length.

Xxx

"Pardon me, young lady."

"Gah!" Gwen sat straight as a voice startled her from her thoughts.

"Are you all right?" The stranger asked.

"Yeah..." Gwen gasped for air. "I was...I was just thinking about something so I guess I didn't hear anyone come up."

"No problem." The man was dressed like a simple intern. "I was just sent do deliver a gift for you from the Total Drama Producers for competing this year."

"A gift?" Gwen asked as she stood up.

"It's nothing bad from Chris, I assure you. There a few gifts for the other contestants as well but we're still looking for them." The man said as he held out a small box in front of her. "Just a token of their appreciation."

"Thanks...I guess." Gwen accepted the box.

"I better go and help with the search. If not for the way things turned out with the executive director wanting a new season and cast ASAP he'd be in big trouble." The man said as he turned and walked away. "Good day, Gwen."

"Bye." Gwen said before looking down at the box.

She opened it up and looked inside.

"A keychain..." Gwen picked it up and looked at it closely.

It was indeed a keychain with a stylized sapphire blue star decorated with silver wings wrapped around it.

"Well it does look like neat piece of jewelry." Gwen commented as she looked it over. "Jewelry's not really my thing but it does look nice."

That was probably the only nice and considerate gift she had ever gotten from anyone associated with Total Drama. The only gifts that she considered keeping where the few she had been given was from her friends.

'Well, it's not the million dollars but it'll do.' Gwen thought as she pocketed the keychain. 'Strange though. I feel like I've seen it before.'

She shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts. What was she thinking? She was probably imagining things again.

"AAAHHH!"

"Cameron?" Gwen spun and looked back at the Playa Des Losers resort.

Xxx

"AAAHHH!"

"Was that Cam?" Mike pulled away from Zoey in the middle of their kiss.

Zoey yelped as she fell on Mike's chest.

"Oh! Sorry, Zoey!" Mike instantly helped Zoey up.

"It's okay. You're right. That is Cam!" Zoey replied as they stood up. "Come on! Let's go!"

They ran towards back to the resort and into the front yard where tables and chairs were all lined up usually for guests who would like to sit out and enjoy the day. Unfortunately today no one was able to enjoy the sun set. Another terrified scream tore into the ears of the three concerned friends as they ran into the yard and saw what was going on.

They were greeted with the horrifying sight of shadows growing in size and length and small imp like creatures rising from the shadow, staring at every living thing with hungry yellow eyes.

"Is that..." Mike whispered.

"I saw those in my dream!" Zoey gasped.

"That was real?!" Gwen's eyes were wide as dinner plates and she was almost speechless.

The first creature was looking in all directions for its prey before it finally settled on Cameron who had fallen on his back and stared at the creature in complete and utter shock. When it locked its eyes onto Cameron he let out another terrified scream as lunged at him.

"CAMERON!" Gwen yelled as she ran forward.

She quickly pulled him out of the way before the creature could touch him. The creature looked up and stared at them with pure hunger in its eyes.

"I saw that before." Cameron gasped.

"No time for trips down memory lane Cam." Gwen quickly said as more shadow monsters, she suddenly remembered they were called Heartless, appeared from the shadowed ground. "We're in a lot of trouble right now."

The Heartless were moving towards them and the people that ran out of the building. Among them were Brick who had come to visit Mike and Zoey, Owen and Izzy who had guessed starred on the Fifth Season, and the remaining interns.

"Holy Cow! What are those?!" Owen screamed.

"Darkness..." Dawn's eyes widened in sheer disbelief and horror. "Pure Darkness."

"Owen, Izzy, get out of here!" Gwen shouted. "Don't worry about any of us! Just run for it!"

The Heartless seemed focused on the people in front of them as they slowly crawled forward.

"Gwen look out!" Mike shouted.

Gwen turned and watched as the Heartless moved toward her and Cameron. Mike picked up a chair and ran at the Heartless.

"Mike!" Zoey cried out.

He swung the chair at the Heartless but to his shock it passed right through them like they weren't even there.

Or like they were ghosts.

"Uh oh." Mike slowly tried to back away.

One of the Heartless decided that he'd be the first meal and leapt at him.

"MIKE!"

Zoey leapt out and kicked the Heartless in mid-air, her foot seemingly shattering its body into nothing but black smoke that dissolved onto the ground. Zoey landed in front of Mike and watched as the Heartless she killed vanished.

"Zoey killed one of them and she didn't have a weapon." Cameron gasped.

"But the chair Mike used went right through them." Gwen pointed out. "But..."

The Heartless let out a scream and advanced towards them again.

"Talk later!" Gwen yelped.

"Hang on!" Izzy shouted as she picked up a stick.

"No don't!" Gwen shouted.

She tried to hit the Heartless near him but like before it passed through it like it didn't actually have a body.

"Huh?" Izzy stared at the creature in shock.

As it turned towards her Gwen ran forward, remembering what Zoey did.

"Gwen wait!" Cameron called out.

She quickly bashed the Heartless creature in the head before it could attack Izzy and the body dissolved into black smoke.

'So they can be hurt but it has to be by physical contact, not like the dream where we had weapons.' Gwen thought.

She turned around and watched as the Heartless began to gather around her.

"Oh crap." Gwen suddenly realized she left herself open when she saved Izzy.

"Run for it, Gwen!" Mike called out.

"Get everyone out of here!" Gwen shouted back. "Don't worry about me! Just get everyone else out of here!"

Now that she thought about it unlike last time the entire cast from both generations were not in Playa Des Losers. Heather and Alejandro probably swam as far as possible to get away from Fang, the rest of the cast from the fifth season were probably still somewhere in those stink filled balloons waiting to be rescued, and only a few like Izzy, Owen, and the former contestants that decided to visit Playa Des Losers were here. That meant that there was a lot less people in danger than she thought but they still needed to get far away as possible.

"Are you crazy?!" Owen shouted. "We can't leave you!"

"Just go! You can't hurt them!"

"Gwen! Look out!" Cameron screamed.

Gwen spun around and looked down to see a portal of darkness appear under a feet with Heartless coming out and pulling down.

"LET ME GO!" Gwen tried to fight them off but their grip was too strong and there were too many.

She heard everyone scream her name one last time as they dragged her down into the darkness. She didn't feel like she was underwater but she couldn't breathe. She would have mused that she was probably in space without the stars but so was too busy trying to fight for her life. She looked up to see the darkness closing the portal above that showed the last bit of light in this black void.

'Someone, anyone, help me!'

Just when the darkness was inches from closing in on her a bright sparkling light lit up the darkness around her, forcing the darkness back. Gwen looked down saw the star like charm she had put in her pocket was glowing.

"Huh?"

The light expanded outwards, killing any Heartless it touched and brought Gwen out of the portal.

"She's okay!" Zoey cried out in relief with smile.

"But what's that glow?" Mike asked.

Gwen didn't answer as she pulled out the keychain with the star charm and looked at the bright blue glowing light. She looked at closely and thought she could hear a soft and melodious sound before she was surrounded by a pillar of light.

"Gwen!" Zoey and Mike called out.

"What's happening?!" Cameron tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Do not be alarmed."

They all looked at Dawn who smiled.

"The light that shines brightest in the dark will be our salvation."

No one understood what she meant but oddly enough Zoey, Mike, and Cameron believed her. Zoey and Mike pulled out their own keychains, wondering if it was all somehow connected. The light surrounding Gwen began to fade and to the relief of her closest friends she was unharmed with nothing different about her.

Except for what looked like a sword in the shape of a key resting in her right hand.

Gwen looked down at the weapon in her hand, examining carefully. It was colored midnight blue with a matching guard decorated with a silver star at the top of the handle. The teeth of the blade were silver shaped like a pointed star. Hanging from the bottom of the hilt was the same keychain with star at the end that had somehow saved Gwen's life.

"What is this?" Gwen whispered as she examined the weapon in her hand. "I can feel...something coming from it but what the hell is it?"

'_Keyblade...Heaven's Star._' Something whispered in Gwen's mind.

'Keyblade? Well it looks like a giant key but...'

"GWEN! LOOK OUT!" Zoey and Mike shouted.

Gwen looked up and saw three more Heartless charging towards her.

"Will you guys..." Gwen asked quietly before lifting her head up to glare at them. "KNOCK IT OFF?!"

She swung her weapon, her Keyblade, at the nearest Heartless. The blade sliced the creature in two before it could attack her. The other two tried to attack her but Gwen was now ready for them. She jumped out of the way as one lunged at her and swung her blade, easily bisecting it in mid-air. She turned to the final one and ran at it, jumping to side as it lunged at her and beheaded it with one quick swing.

"Wow." She looked over her Keyblade, inspecting it closely and wondering how it could destroy those things.

"What is that?" Mike asked as he and everyone else ran up to her.

"I don't know...But it feels familiar somehow..." Gwen looked at the Keyblade again and for a second she thought she was holding the same staff she used in her dream. "The dream!"

"What?" Cameron asked.

"Did you three have a dream where we fighting those monsters?" Gwen asked urgently.

"...That was real?" Mike's eyes widened.

"What dream?" Izzy asked.

"Before I woke up this morning I had a dream with me, Zoey, Cam, and Mike all together in some...weird place and we were fighting these monsters...Heartless." Gwen tried to explain as best as she could. "This voice...it said something about three of us..."

She looked at Mike and Zoey as the pair's eyes widened.

"I remember that dream too!" Cameron gasped. "It happened right after the island sank! I remember sitting on the debris with you guys and then I blacked out!"

"We fell somewhere and next thing we knew we were fighting those things and a..." Mike trailed as his widened even more. "Oh crap! If those things are real then that means..."

"Oh God!" Zoey gasped in horror.

As they spoke the sky above them was almost completely black with strong winds knocking trees down and lifted chairs, tables, and umbrellas into the air.

"What's happening?!" Owen covered his face.

"I don't know! I've never been in weather like this before!" Izzy hugged Owen close to her.

"That darkness...We've seen it before." Zoey whispered.

"It's hungry..."

They all looked at Dawn who was staring at the sky, unable to move and looked very scared.

"They are hungry; they search for all light and devour it..." Dawn started to shiver. "They never stop, they'll never stop..."

"She is seriously making it hard to stay calm." Gwen remarked. "But she's right. Something's going on here...something bad."

Everyone stiffened when a series of loud roars ripped into their eyes.

"Guys..." Cameron trembled in horror.

More Heartless rose up from the ground and seemed to let out a screech when they looked at the teens, more specifically when they saw Gwen and the weapon she was holding. Gwen didn't know what she was going but she fell into an unfamiliar stance with her right hand gripping her Keyblade tightly as she held it in front of everyone.

"Gwen?"

Gwen looked over her shoulder and saw Cameron along with her closest friends looking at her.

"Get inside. I'll meet you guys in a minute." Gwen simply said.

"What?!" Cameron cried.

"Girl, are you crazy?!" Brick asked.

"Guys, I don't know what's going on but I know that this...thing I have can kill those things. You guys stay back and let me deal with them." Gwen stepped forward.

"Gwen, you're outnumbered ten to one." Mike protested.

The shadowy bug like monsters moved towards them at a quickened pace.

"Don't argue with me!" Gwen turned and shouted at them. "JUST GO!"

As the first Heartless leapt at her Gwen spun around and slashed it in two with Keyblade.

She took off running away from the others, waving her Keyblade. "HEY! OVER HERE! COME AND GET ME!"

The Heartless easily lost interest in the others and chased after her, leaving the others to cry out or watch with fear for their friend's safety. Gwen didn't pay them any mind as she just focused on running and getting those things away from everyone.

'That's it, you freaks! Focus on me!'

She slashed through one that leapt at her and stopped as the Heartless tried to surround her.

"Gwen! Hang on!"

"Huh?" Gwen stopped and turned around. "Zoey! Don't!"

Zoey leapt over the Heartless and kicked one of them in the back of the head, shattering its shadow made body instantly.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked as Zoey landed next to her.

"Helping you! I'm a protector, remember?" Zoey's usual smile flashed across her face. "I can't leave my friends alone."

"But what about the others?" Gwen asked.

"Hang on Zoey!"

Gwen looked up and saw Mike jump in, spinning past the Heartless with the skills of his Svetlana personality, punching and kick any Heartless that tried to attack him.

"You guys! I told you to get somewhere safe!" Gwen protested.

She spotted two more Heartless trying to sneak up on her and quickly dispatched them with her Keyblade.

"We couldn't leave you alone!" Zoey pointed out as she kicked another Heartless away. "You know how bad these monsters are!"

"That's why I told you guys to run!" Gwen jumped to right as a Heartless jumped at her leg.

She slashed at its and its body disintegrated into a black mist.

"Yeah, but we fought these things before, remember?" Mike asked as he punched, kicked, and dodged every Heartless near him. "We stick together, remember?"

"Like the weird voice said about that Trinity thing, remember?" Zoey asked as she cart wheeled past a Heartless that tried to claw her head off. "That keychain you got. Who gave it to you?"

"I don't know. I was told the producers were giving us gifts for competing this year." Gwen replied, keeping an eye on the Heartless surrounding them.

"That was what we were told too." Mike said as the three regrouped. "What happened? What did it do?"

"I don't know. It just turned into this...Keyblade when I thought I was going to die." Gwen looked at her weapon. "I can't explain what happened."

By now the Heartless surrounding them were all defeated thanks to the efforts of the three. When the last of them fell to Gwen's Keyblade the three assembled together and looked over her new weapon.

"It's really...something." Zoey looked over key like sword. "It killed those Heartless so easily."

"Guys!"

The three looked back to see Cameron running towards them.

"Did anybody listen to me at all?" Gwen sighed.

"Gwen, where did you get that?" Cameron asked, gasping for air when he stopped in front of them.

"Your guess is as good as mine. That's not the problem right now." Gwen answered. "We got to get out of here."

"The others are trying to call for help right now. But the phone lines seem to be down." Cameron replied.

"What about the boats?" Mike asked.

"Gone." Cameron answered.

"...Chris." Gwen narrowed her eyes. "He's got something to do with all of this."

"Are you sure, Gwen?" Zoey asked. "This seems nothing like a Chris scheme."

"He sent us the keychains and it was his boat that picked us up when the island sank. He knocked us out..." Gwen trailed off.

"Gwen?" Cameron asked.

"Were we in a dark room with bags over our heads before we..." Gwen slowly asked.

"And then Chris came into the room..." Mike continued.

"And then that dream happened!" Zoey gasped. "You're right, Gwen! It was Chris! He did something to us!"

"And now he's gone and done this to us." Gwen finished, clenching the handle of her Keyblade hard. "The next time I see him I'm using this on him to..."

"Guys..." Mike interrupted pointing behind them. "We might have another problem."

"Now what?" Gwen sighed and turned around.

She wished she hadn't.

Darkness swirled in front of them like a tornado and out of the tornado came a giant fist connected to a muscular torso, a face with yellow eyes and tentacles falling over it and a heart shaped hole in its chest.

"No...not again." Zoey gulped as she stepped back.

They remembered the monster from their dreams. How could they forget it? Among all the weird and terrifying things they say it was the one thing they would never forget.

Darkside.

The monster lowered its yellow eyes down on the four former Total Drama contestants, its eyes narrowing as it landed on Gwen and the weapon in her hand.

"Guys!" Cameron's voice called out to them.

"Mike! Zoey!" Brick's voice cried out next.

Now that she thought about it unlike the last time the entire cast from both generations were not in Playa Des Losers. Heather and Alejandro probably swam as far as possible to get away from Fang, the rest of the All-Stars cast were still floating somewhere in those stink filled balloons waiting to be rescued, and only a few like Izzy, Dawn, and Owen were here. That meant that there was a lot less people in danger than she thought but they still needed to get as far as possible.

"Get out of here!" Gwen shouted. "Don't let that thing touch you!"

"LOOK OUT!"

Gwen didn't have time to wonder who had shouted out a warning when she turned to face the monster as it tried to smash her and the nearest teens to bits with its giant fist. They just barely managed to get out of the way of the monster's shadowy fist. The Darkside growled as it turned its eyes to Gwen and launched another fist down at her. Gwen cried out as she jumped and rolled out of the way but Darkside kept chasing her.

"Why is it only going after Gwen? It tried to kill all of us the last time we saw it!" Zoey quickly helped Mike and Cameron up.

"Maybe because of the weapon Gwen has. It knows that her weapon can hurt it." Cameron surmised. "It wants to take her out before she can take it out!"

"Well we can't let it kill her." Mike said as he stood up. "We got to help her out!"

"Right!" Zoey said as she pulled out hey keychain. "There's got to be a way to help out."

"What are you...HEY!" Brick was in the middle of trying to understand what the hell was going on when Zoey took off running towards the beast.

Gwen was running for her life as she just narrowly avoided fist after fist from the giant monster that chased after her.

"A little help would really be appreciated!" Gwen cried out.

Zoey jumped up and kicked the monster's arm as its fist slammed into the ground, barely missing Gwen again. Darkside grunted in annoyance as Zoey ran towards the panting Gwen.

"Thanks Zoey." Gwen managed a small smile.

"No problem, but Gwen it's after you because of your weapon." Zoey pointed at Gwen's Keyblade. "It knows you can hurt it."

"I'm not exactly in the best shape to hurt it." Gwen took a deep breath.

"Which is why Mike and I will distract it while you attack." Zoey replied.

"WHAT?!" Gwen's eyes became as wide as dinner plates. "You'll be killed!"

"Only if we're too slow and we beat this thing before." Zoey said with a small smile. "Try not to be too slow!"

"Zoey! Wait!" Gwen chased after her.

"HEY! YOU...DARKNESS MEAN THING! COME AND GET ME!" Zoey waved her hands out as she ran in front of Darkside.

"NO! COME AND GET ME!" Mike picked up a rock and threw it.

It didn't do anything other than go right through the Darkside's face and out the back of its head, just like what happened with the other Heartless. Darkside growled as the two humans got in its way and it tried to swipe them out of the way. Smaller impish Heartless sprouted from the ground around the giant and crawled towards them.

"Get back!" Gwen shouted.

She ran in front of the others and slashed at the Heartless, slicing their bodies apart and trying to protect everyone behind her. The problem she had was that not all of the Heartless were moving to attack her or the people she was trying to protect.

"Mike! Zoey!" Gwen shouted between swings. "Look out!"

Zoey looked behind to see the imp Heartless crawling towards her. "Oh no!"

She tried to run but she had to duck when she saw Darkside's fist flying towards her.

"Zoey!" Mike screamed.

Zoey looked up, her eyes widening in horror and her breath exhaling from her mouth as Heartless surrounded her and crept towards her. They leapt towards her and she covered her eyes, waiting for the end.

"ZOEY!"

Mike leapt up, somersaulting through the air with the skills of his Svetlana personality and landed in front of Zoey. All he could at the point was cover her with his own body as the Heartless piled on both of them.

"MIKE! ZOEY!" Cameron shouted in horror.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Gwen shouted, running towards the pile of shadow monsters to get them off her friends by any means necessary.

The Heartless piled on top of them and enveloped them in a dome of darkness. Inside the two held onto each other for their dear lives as the darkness reached out to grab them.

'This is it...isn't it?' Zoey's voice asked even though she didn't speak.

'I don't know...Gwen made it out. Maybe so can we.' Mike weakly chuckled as he held out a hand to her. 'But if we don't make it out of here...I know it's sappy and we've only been dating for a year but...I love you, Zoey!'

'I love you too, Mike!'

They reached out and kissed each other, not noticing their keychains beginning to glow. The ruby red flower and the golden heart shined bright in the dark and traveled up into the hands of their owners. The light burned away the darkness as it grew even brighter and began to take form. The dome of darkness surrounding them faded as the keychains exploded in a flash of bright light. Everyone covered their eyes from the bright light while the Darkside let out a scream as it recoiled from the light.

'This light...' Gwen squinted as she opened one eye. 'I know that light.'

The light faded to reveal Mike and Zoey completely unharmed, standing up and grasping what looked like giant keys fashioned as swords. Zoey's blade was ruby red and it was decorated with flowers across the guard and going up the weapon to the bladed end that was fashioned like an arrow. Hanging off the bottom of the handle was Zoey's new keychain, added as a decoration to Zoey's new weapon, her Keyblade.

'_Keyblade...Rose Arrow._' Zoey heard the voice from the dream whisper in her mind.

Mike's was aqua blue with a golden handle and it looked like a normal key with no special decorations other then the keychain hanging off the end of the hilt.

'_Keyblade...King's Salvation._' Mike heard the same voice from before.

"Holy cow..." Cameron's jaw dropped. "It's just like Gwen..."

Gwen looked down at her Keyblade and then looked at Mike and Zoey who stood up, grasping their new weapons. 'It's just like in that dream...The Warrior.'

Mike.

'The Protector.'

Zoey.

'And the Mystic.'

Gwen looked at her Keyblade. 'The three of us...A Trinity. How the hell is this real?'

She was brought out of her mind as the Darkside let out another loud roar and stomped towards them.

"Maybe we should fight now, ask questions later." Mike suggested.

"Right." Gwen and Zoey nodded.

They gripped their weapons as the Darkside loomed over them. Just like before it tried to swipe at them with its giant fist but luckily they were able to dodge it. Mike had Svetlana's agility, Zoey had her aerobatic skills, and even though Gwen was not the fastest or the most agile she could still dodge the giant monster's fists by running or rolling out of the way. Mike leapt up and slashed at the monster's arm, his Keyblade cutting its black skin as he landed on the ground. The Darkside screamed in pain and tried to smash Mike with its other fist but Mike somersaulted to the left while the giant fist sailed past him and into the ground.

Darkside growled and chased after Mike, its footsteps making a small quake with each stomp.

"A little help here guys!" Mike called out.

Gwen and Zoey ran towards Darkside while its back was turned.

"You ready?" Gwen asked.

"No. You think this is a good idea?" Zoey replied with a question of her own.

"No." Gwen answered. "Here we go!"

Both girls leapt up and slashed at Darkside's back, scratching its black skin and digging deep into its body. Darkside screamed as it spun and threw the girls off its back, knocking them back onto the ground. Mike ran forward, screaming with his Keyblade raised above his head, determined to defeat the beast before it could harm his friends again. Darkside turned and faced Mike as it raised one fist and slammed it into the ground, summoning more imp-Heartless like before.

Mike ran through the crowd of shadows, slicing them apart with his weapon but there were too many. He had to jump back as a few slashed at him, allowing the other shadows to surround him. However they did not attack, they were in fact a diversion that allowed Darkside to grab him and threw him down towards the beach of the island.

Mike groaned as he tried to sit up and rubbed his aching head. "I'm going to feel that in the morning."

He looked up and saw Darkside and the batch of Heartless approaching him.

"Oh boy."

Just as the imp Heartless leapt at him two familiar figures leapt in and slashed at attacking shadows, standing in front of him as the dead shadows dissolved into nothing.

"Are you okay, Mike?" Zoey asked.

"Now that you guys are here." Mike smiled as he managed to stand up. "This might be a little tougher than in that dream."

"Not if we kill it like before. We know these things," Gwen held up her Keyblade. "Can kill them. We just need to keep on attacking it. There's got be some kind of weak spot."

The Darkside tried to flatten them with its fists again but they all managed to evade.

"It helps that this guy is predictable!" Zoey rolled below a fist that tried to swat her aside.

A second later Zoey ended up flying into a tree from Darkside's fist. "Oh...then again, I could be wrong."

"Zoey!" Mike cried out.

"Look out!" Gwen knocked Mike down as Darkside swat at him. "Come on, focus! We got a life or death battle here!"

As another imp Heartless tried to attack them Gwen leapt to her feet and slashed it apart. She then rolled to the side Darkside tried to flatten her again with its giant fist. She looked closely as it embedded itself in the ground, creating another shadow portal.

"That's it! Mike! Zoey! Go for the hand!" Gwen shouted.

Mike and Zoey didn't bother argue or ask why; they just leapt at the giant hand along with Gwen and slashed at it with all of their might. The Darkside screamed as it backed away from the trio and vanished into a pillar of darkness.

"Yes! We did it!" Zoey laughed weakly as she threw her arms up, still grasping her Keyblade.

She grabbed Gwen and Mike in a big hug which Mike returned while Gwen weakly chuckled and awkwardly hugged Zoey back.

"GUYS!"

They broke the hug and saw Cameron and the others running towards them. Before anyone could speak up the wind suddenly began to pick up, strong enough to knock some of the smaller and lighter contestants down.

"Now what?" Gwen had to cover her eyes from the wind blasting in her face.

The sky was ripped own to reveal a massive black hole that expanded out, like a mouth opening to devour the entire world.

"Is this awesome?!" A familiar voice laughed.

They all looked up to see Chris standing on the beach as the lake before was consumed by the darkness.

"Chris?" Mike asked, covering half his face. "What's going on?!"

"Just the greatest show in the history of the multi-verse!" Chris kept on laughing. "You guys are history in the making!"

"What do you mean by that?!" Cameron cried out. "What is happening?!"

"Oh, just the Darkness reaching out to devour this world's heart. Not such a bad thing when you think about it." Chris shrugged.

"What the hell did you do?!" Gwen shouted.

She would have gone over and whacked him with her Keyblade but strong winds made it hard for her to see and hear him.

"Not me, but a friend of mine came up with this crazy idea." Chris replied, continuing to laugh as if he breathed in laughing gas.

A dark cloaked figure came up and stood next to Chris.

"Who is that?" Zoey asked.

"You don't need to worry about that. You just got to be ready for what comes next." Chris answered.

That was when wind became so strong that everyone was suddenly lifted off their feet and sucked towards the gaping hole in the sky.

"_MIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEE!_"

"_ZZZOOOOOOOEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!_"

They along with the rest of the world were swallowed by the Darkness, with nothing left but a black void.


	3. Darkness and Light Rising 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

A blast of wind in his face stirred him from his sleep. He groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, feeling himself lying on something soft. He slowly sat up and looked to see he was in what looked like a simple room with nothing special in sight. He took another look around and realized he was in a small cabin, not too different from the one on Total Drama Island but it was nicer looking.

"Well, you've finally awoken."

"Huh?" He looked over the door which was open to see the source of the voice.

The voice came from an elderly looking man standing at the entrance with a curious and relieved look on his face. The man was bald with thin eyebrows and a small curled silver goatee and his skin looked mildly tanned. He immediately noticed the man's ears were pointed, which might be considered a little odd, and his eyes were colored yellow. Aside from that there was nothing out of the ordinary about this strange man.

He wore a white buttoned up shirt that fell down to his knees with two belts holding it around the waist, dark black, black calf high boots with silver lining, white gloves covering his hands, and a black coat with red inner lining.

"How are you feeling, young man?" The old man asked. "You certainly seem better now than before."

"Uh...Oh. Yeah, I'm okay." He nervously rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks. You...uh...brought me here."

"Yes, after taking care of a few minor injuries." The man answered with a nod as he slowly walked over. "You were lucky I came upon you. I cannot guarantee many people would be so lucky as you were if no one had found you in time."

He had his hands folded behind him and his back seemed to be crooked.

"Yeah...what happened?" He looked around as he tried to remember.

He was met with flashes back to his past and someone shouting his name. He let out a cry as he grasped his head.

"Are you all right?" The man came over and looked closely at him.

"...Ye...Yeah." He slowly answered. "Where am I? I remember my girlfriend shouting for me and then..."

"Do not become too worried." The man waved his right hand softly. "I will do my best to help you but you must rest and regain your strength."

"Thank you." Mike took a deep breath. "Where are we?"

"A simple little home meant for a short rest. I built it as a place to rest during my journeys." The man said as he turned and walked a few feet from Mike. "It has enough food to last a day but luckily I have a few friends to make sure it is restocked long before I return."

"Wow. Thank you Mister. I'd love to repay you somehow, if I knew how I could." Mike said with a smile.

"Worry not. I may be an old man but I have plenty of time left in the world and instead of Mister I'd prefer you'd address me by my name, Xehanort."

Xxx

TICK-TOCK!

TICK-TOCK!

TICK-TOCK!

"Ugh..." Gwen groaned as the sound of a thousand clocks rang through her ears. "Turn them off, I'm awake."

She slowly sat up and opened her eyes to see...

"What the hell?"

She seemed to be in some kind of tower with thousands of clocks either on the walls or floating (unless she was imagining it) in mid-air.

"Ah, you managed to awake."

A man in a purple cloak with blue skin, red eyes with a crescent shaped scar under one of them, holding a staff with a clock on the end, and a clock on his chest appeared on the other end of the room. However the most surprising part was that he had no legs, just a floating tail like...

"A ghost?" The man offered with a smile. "And the answer to the next question is that you are in my lair, Gwen."

"How do you know my name?" Gwen asked, sitting up from the nice comfy bed. "And where exactly is your lair?"

"The answer to your first question is simple. I am Clockwork, the Ghost of Time with the ability to observe time, enabling me to know...everything." The man suddenly changed into an old man with a long white beard.

"Ghost?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Well, look around and see if you can think of another explanation." Clockwork offered with a smile.

Gwen couldn't answer but she settled for frowning. "All right, say you are the Ghost of Time? Does this mean I'm...dead?"

"No." Clockwork changed again, this time resembling a small child.

Gwen had to struggle not to laugh at the so-called Ghost of Time resembling a two year old. Clockwork didn't react, he simply continued speaking.

"You remember what happened? The Heartless, the Darkness devouring your world and your Keyblade?"

"Keyblade?" Gwen's eyes widened.

In a flash of light her midnight blue and silver colored Keyblade appeared in her right hand.

"So you do remember." Clockwork stated.

"What happened? Why am I here? Where is everyone?" Gwen stood up.

"I'm afraid the answers to both your questions are one and the same, young Gwendolyn." Clockwork answered with a calm look but a hint of sadness in his voice. "The Heartless, pure manifestations of Darkness devoured the heart of you world and so it was consumed."

"Consumed?" Gwen asked, afraid of the answer.

"Destroyed." Clockwork clarified.

"Destroyed?" Gwen repeated, her eyes widening. "What do you mean destroyed?"

"You remember the Darkness spreading across the sky?" Clockwork asked. "It's a sign that a world is closed to being completely engulfed in darkness."

"These Heartless...Why did they attack us?" Gwen asked, trying to understand and remain calm.

"They sensed you had awoken your Keyblade, the one weapon in the entire universe that could kill them. Some weapons are capable of killing the Heartless but only if their owners have very strong wills. Only a Keyblade is fully capable killing them which is why they attacked you and your friends, they wanted to kill you because you were threat to them."

"Keyblades...Mike! Zoey!" Gwen's eyes went wide. "What happened to them?! To our friends?! What about them?!"

Clockwork changed back into his adult form as he raised one hand. "I'm afraid there is good news and bad news to those questions. There is always a chance that someone from a world destroyed by the Heartless survived but they would be scattered on a distant world. The good news is that I know that several former contestants from that reality show you participated in survived."

"Really?" Gwen asked, calming down slightly.

"Yes but my powers only allow me to see what can, will, and might happen. I may know everything but I cannot instantly locate them all for you to find. That will be up to you." Clockwork answered.

"Me?" Gwen gestured to herself. "How can I do that?"

Clockwork smiled as he changed into his elderly form again. "With a little help and some training from someone who knows how to use a Keyblade."

He gestured her to follow him and lead her into a large room with a large bell in the center. Gwen realized she was in a giant bell tower and in front of her was a table with small cups and kettle of tea. Sitting in one of the chairs was an elderly woman with grey hair, red rimmed glasses that covered her eyes, and wore a reddish black dress with a spider symbol on her torso. She didn't appear to have any legs and the chair she sat on resembled a throne with a mechanical spider web,

"Gwendolyn Rivers, may I introduce Madame Web." Clockwork changed his child form. "And welcome to the world of ghosts: **The Ghost Zone**."

"Greetings, Gwen." Madame Web bowed her head in greetings. "I hope you'll come to trust me despite the circumstances of our meeting."

"Me too, I guess." Gwen walked towards the table but didn't sit down. "Clockwork said you could help me."

"Indeed." Madame Web nodded. "I have the ability to see into other worlds scattered across the cosmos but that is not all I am here for. You will be making the journey after you learn what is most important right now."

"And what is that?" Gwen asked.

"How to wield a Keyblade." Madame Web held out one hand and in a flash of light appeared a Keyblade.

Madame Web's Keyblade was black and red with a spider decorating the top of the guard and legs sticking out of the guard. The interior of the guard had small black lines connected to the handle that resembled a spider web and the teeth resembled spider fangs. Hanging from the bottom of the hilt was a keychain with a spider at the end.

"Gwendolyn, I forgot to mention her other title, Madame Web: retired Keyblade Master and possibly your mentor." Clockwork smiled.

Xxx

Zoey groaned as she finally began to wake up. She squinted her eyes as she tried to sit up, putting a hand to her head. "Ugh…what a weird dream."

She rubbed her head softly.

"That was some dream…I dreamt me and my friends were attacked by weird shadow monsters and we all had key shaped weapons." She chuckled as she shook her head. "Yeah right. Like that would ever happen."

"Ah, you are awake I see."

Zoey's eyes shot open as she looked around and saw herself in what looked like a regular sized apartment the was well cleaned. She was on the couch with a pillow under her head and warm sheets covering her. The source of the voice came from a man coming out of the kitchen with a tray holding a tea cup and kettle. The man had a square shaped face with eastern features, wearing blue sports pants, dark blue shoes, and a blue jacket over a white shirt.

His black hair was tied neatly into a bun and his dark eyes were staring at her.

"Uh…hello?" Zoey asked hesitantly.

"Hello, young miss. I hope I didn't startle you. I imagine you must be in a little shock at the moment." The man said gently.

"Shock…uh, why would I be in shock?" Zoey gently removed the covers off her as she sat on the couch.

"I imagine appear out of some sort of portal of darkness would be quite traumatizing to a young one like yourself." The man answered as he sat the tray on the coffee table.

"Portal of…Darkness!" Zoey's eyes widened. "Those things…those monsters that attacked me and my friends!"

"Monsters of darkness, hmmm."The man frowned in thought. "These creatures…they would not happen to be called Heartless would they?"

Zoey gasped in shock. "Heartless…Yes, that's what they were!"

"I see." The man's face turned grim. "So, if you appeared here out of a Corridor of Darkness it can only mean that you were brought here by mistake or…Your world was attacked by the Heartless and engulfed in Darkness."

"Engulfed…in Darkness." Zoey's hand traveled up to her mouth. "But my family…my friends…"

The man looked sad now. "I am sorry. When a world is engulfed in Darkness it along with its people vanishes. Once engulfed in Darkness only those with strong wills survive while the rest are turned into Heartless."

Zoey's heart nearly stopped from the revelation. "You mean they are all…"

"I am not sure. Sometime people survive but they are left on a distant world, much like you are now." The man answered.

"World?"

"Ah, I forgot to mention. There are multiple worlds out there, teeming with life that is unique and diverse. The world you have appeared is called…Megaville."

"Megaville?" Zoey wondered what kind of name was that.

"Yes. One of many worlds." The man nodded with a small smile. "I watched you fall out of a corridor of darkness on my home from the school I work at. I checked you over and saw you were in no danger of any injuries and brought you here to recuperate."

"You know what happened to me?" Zoey asked.

"I have seen many things in my life, including extraordinary events such as seeing other worlds. I have witnessed creatures such as these Heartless violently and utterly consume the light of worlds and their people in their never ending quest to devour the light in people." The man explained. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Well, my friends and I were attacked by these Heartless…and we tried to fight back. Me, my boyfriend, and my friend all had these weird key shaped weapons." Zoey started.

"Key shaped weapons?" The man's eyes widened. "You possess a Keyblade?"

"Well, I don't know." Zoey looked down at herself. "I don't see it with me."

"Summon it."

Zoey stared at the man. "Huh?"

"Imagine it appearing in your hand."

Zoey looked at her hand and did what she was told. Suddenly in a flash of bright light her red Keyblade appeared in her hand. "Whoa! But how?!"

"A Keyblade is a manifestation of your heart. Wherever you go it will follow." The man answered.

"My heart?" Zoey asked.

"Perhaps I can better explain with what I have learned." The man left and returned a moment later with a single piece of paper. "This book was given to me by someone to help understand what I had seen."

Zoey picked up the paper labelled page one and looked it over.

_Report One_

_To whoever finds this report I hope to all religious deities out there that the Professor didn't accidentally burn, lose, or give it to some stranger. He seems a little loopy at times and to be honest I wonder if I was a little drunk or high when I agreed to give him this, even if it's just only just page one. Anyways, if the Professor gave this to the right person it can only be because that the one reading this is the wielder of a Keyblade. The question in your mind is no doubt what exactly is the Keyblade and the basic answer would be it is the weapon used by warriors of light against the darkness._

_Pretty easy answer right or do you want a more descriptive answer?_

_Well, the better answer would be is that though no one exactly knows where the Keyblade came from or how it came into existence, only that it is basically the power of the heart given physical form. Still with me here? Well basically the heart is one of three parts that make up a complete being. There is the body which is what gives us a physical form, the soul which is the mind that gives us our intellect and our memories, and the heart is what gives us the ability to feel emotions, the capacity to feel love, sadness, or even hate._

_The Keyblade is forged from the unique nature of the heart thus giving it a unique appearance from the many different blades out there that have been forged. The light is seen as the good part, the ability to feel all positive emotions of the heart while the negative emotions form the darkness or the bad part of the heart. The reason why it shaped like a key is because it has the power to unlock anything, even the boundaries between worlds. Essentially, the power in the heart is unlocked and Keyblade is the key that not unlocks that power but even…_

_The Heart of any World._

_Make no mistake, whoever is reading this, whether you have the Keyblade in your hands or not there are multiple worlds that are all vast and different. I speak not of planets in space but worlds that some would call other dimensions, other planes of existence that each of a Heart that connects them and makes up our universe or as some people prefer to call, the Multi-verse. It is all part of a system so vast that it is invisible to the normal eye and cannot be found with ordinary science. In fact some worlds and its people go about their entire life span without knowing but there are those that discover this and when they do they come across a power that can be used for the creation of great things or destruction on more than just a world wide scale._

_If you are in possession of a Keyblade you must learn how to use it and beware the Darkness for it knows the Keyblade's power and fears it greatly. You will be in danger of being attacked by those are who corrupted by the Darkness._

_Beware fellow holder of the Keyblade and never let the Darkness take hold of you._

_End of Report_

Zoey looked over the report and read it more than once to understand. She then summoned her Keyblade and looked it over.

'This is the power of…my heart?'

"To see an actual Keyblade is something I had hoped never to happen." The man sighed. "If this happening now it's a matter of time."

"Time? Time for what?" Zoey looked up. "Why is this happening?"

"I'm sorry. But you must understand, for a long time Keyblade wielders had existed in very few numbers and they only appeared to stop Darkness from spreading to other worlds. However only just a handful of Keyblade wielders meant great danger for countless worlds as the Heartless are drawn to the Keyblade. They know it is the one weapon that can utterly defeat them and thus they hunt down anyone who has it." The man explained.

"Then…I'm in danger! My friends are in danger too!" Zoey stood up. "I need to find them!"

"But how can you find them?" The man sadly asked. "You don't know how to travel to other worlds."

That made Zoey stop completely as her eyes widened. "You mean…I might not ever find Mike, or Cam, or Gwen?"

"I didn't say that but if you want to find them you must understand the weapon now wield. The Keyblade can unlock the boundaries between other worlds but you don't know how to use." The man explained. "There is also another problem."

"What is it?" Zoey anxiously asked.

"The Heartless are drawn the Keyblade because they know it is the only weapon that can slay them. Your Keyblade may attract the Heartless to this world and endanger much like what happened to yours."

Zoey gasped as she looked down at her Keyblade. "Yo-you mean I'll bring more of those things here?!"

"Calm down." The man said when he saw Zoey becoming frantic. "You can learn how to hide your Keyblade and be able to travel to other worlds to find your friends but first you must calm down."

"You can help?" Zoey asked with hope and desperation in her voice.

"I can." The man said with a small smile. "All though I have never owned a Keyblade myself I have lived for a long time, seen many things, and I know how a Keyblade wielder can use their new found powers to their best."

Zoey stared at the man, wondering who he was and why he would help her. It was not in her nature to be paranoid but she just found out that her home and friends had been lost to those monsters, the Heartless and she was on some new world. She was alone, scared, and had no one that she knew she could count on.

"Who are you and why would you help?" She finally asked, sitting back down on the couch.

"My name is Jack and like you I know what it's like to be suddenly torn away from your home and end up somewhere else with no clue on what to do." The man said with a helpful smile. "It took me a long time to find my way back and even then I had become something entirely different than what I and my people were. The road will not be an easy one but I believe I can help you."

He reached out to her with one hand. She stared at it and then back at him. She thought it over in her head and to be honest there was something about this man that made her want to trust him. Slowly she reached out and grasped Jack's hand.

"Okay. Thank you." Zoey finally smiled.

She hoped she would see Mike and her friends again soon.

Xxx

As the three Keyblade wielders were adjusting to their new situation something else was happening somewhere else in the universe.

"Ugh…What happened?"

"Where are we?"

"What the hell is this place?"

"I don't know. Looks like the forest my Pappy and I used to camp out when I was a kid."

They awoke to find themselves on a dark beach with a sun shining off in the distance of the dark gray sky.

"How did we end up here? The last thing I remember is trying to get away from that shark." Heather quickly huddled up to Alejandro who nodded in agreement. "Yes. We were swimming and then…I remember nothing else."

"I remember being stuck in a stinky balloon that was blown off towards the sun." Jo stated.

"Pee-eww. That was stinky, even for Lightning's nose." Lightning gasped for breath.

"I got to admit, I've smelled a lot of crappy stuff but Chris trapping us in balloons and filling them from Owen's ass is a pretty disgusting one." Duncan remarked.

"So how did we get here? Did the balloons pop and we fell onto this beach?" Courtney looked around, trying to remember what had happened and find out where they are.

"It's not a big deal. If we sit here Chris will come. Better to hang out here instead of waiting for a shark to come along." Scott walked over to a stump and sat on it. "About time I get a chance to sit down."

"What if no one comes along?" Courtney asked.

"Like that's Lightning's problem. Lightning can survive in anywhere!" Lightning ran towards a tree and sat down against it. "Lightning calls this spot!"

"Yeah, like anyone's going to steal your spot." Jo scoffed as she turned and started walking away. "I'm out of here."

"You're just leaving?" Courtney asked.

"Not on Total Drama or on a team anymore, Crazy in Training! So I don't have to put up with the rest of you anymore!" Jo shouted as she continued walking.

"She's got a point there. See ya!" Duncan casually waved and started walking away.

"Yeah, like we wanted your company." Heather and Alejandro sat down on the gray colored sand. "We'll just wait for help to come."

Little did they know was that help was _not_ coming. They did not wake up on some small island on the lake in Muskoka where they had competed. They were not even on their home world. They were in a realm that no living being should be in.

And they were not alone.

Xxx

"So these are the guys?" A man tilted his head. "They certainly don't look tough. Except for a few of them."

"That matters little. What matters is whether or not they can endure the Darkness and not lose their hearts." A voice said behind the man. "These represent a fine example of Hearts in Darkness but whether they have the strength to endure without losing themselves completely remains to be seen."

The source of the voice was a man wearing a black hooded coat that covered him from head to toe and covered his face in shadow.

"And I get the fortune of babysitting." The man grumbled.

"Only until all have been gathered." The cloaked figure behind him replied. "Christopher went through much to make sure they were the right ones."

"Yeah and Chris is so reliable. Why don't you just kill him already? He's done his part." The man rolled his eyes.

"His resources made him valuable and he managed to find us several subjects who have already passed the test. He has earned himself a chance to be part of the next part of the plan. At the very least he can monitor the other potential subjects while we concentrate the ones that have survived. You know what to do."

"Yeah, yeah." The man sighed, acting somewhat childish. "I got these brats."

The cloaked man grinned as a pillar of darkness appeared around him and vanished.

"Why do I always get the job with the brats?" The man grumbled.

Xxx

"Where did it all go wrong?" Courtney sighed as she sat on the beach and watched the sun in the distance. "What did I do to deserve this?"

She came back to Total Drama because she planned to win the money and demonstrate her skills as a leader without any distractions. Sure, she would have settled for some old fashion revenge on her ex-boyfriend but it was all about the money. Then she and Gwen, who she had _actually missed_ since the end of season three managed to repair their friendship and becoming best friends. They stood together and Courtney even got a new boyfriend.

Sure Scott was not bright but he had his sweet moment.

Then Mike or Mal or whatever his name had to show them that stupid chart and instantly things went wrong. Scott and Gwen walked away, turning their backs on her and working to eliminate her from the island. They succeeded and when Scott and Gwen made to the Playa Des Losers Courtney barely had a chance to see them before they were stuffed into those stinky balloons. She wondered if they even thought of her at all.

She heard eating sounds and saw Scott eating dirt, like he usually does when he's sad. How does someone live through eating dirt anyways?

"What a prize, huh?"

Courtney looked up and frowned. "What do _you_ want?"

Duncan shrugged. "Just seeing how you're doing. Must not be easy since you were dumped by Gwen and Scott, _again._"

"Yeah, about as bad as Gwen dumping you because you kept on asking about _me_. Makes me wonder why you decided to go out with her." Courtney mumbled.

"Hey, we were just fine." Duncan retorted.

"Yeah right. Glaring at me to get a reaction, trying to make sure I know you exist, and asking Gwen about what I have said about you. You never moved on from me, you were just using Gwen as your next plan to make me jealous!" Courtney glared. "Too bad all it did was make me see you for the idiotic heartless a…a-hole that you are!"

Duncan stepped back as Courtney shouted at him. Courtney prided herself on being a dignified young lady who did not curse like certain other people.

"Hey! What's the problem?"

They looked and saw Scott walking towards them.

"This ain't your business, Dirt-boy." Duncan answered.

"Scott…" Courtney trailed off.

"I can go where I want. Plus I wanted see if there any slushy mud around here." Scott retorted and walked away. "See ya."

As he walked away they did not notice his eyes flash yellow.

"What did you see in him?" Duncan asked.

"Mind your own business, Duncan. You lost your chance with me a long time ago when you decided kissing my best friend behind my back was just another attempt to make me jealous. You don't have any part in my life anymore." Courtney glared.

"Fine, fine." Duncan stepped back. "I know when I'm not wanted around here. But just to let you know, I know you talked about me when I was not around."

As he turned and walked away Duncan's eyes flashed yellow.

"Keep dreaming." Courtney muttered as Duncan walked away. "You don't understand. You never understand."

As she looked down her eyes flashed yellow.

Xxx

"Cheated out of the million again and left to die on some deserted dark beach." Heather grumbled, curling against Alejandro for warmth.

"Now, now, let us put that behind us." Alejandro wrapped an arm around Heather.

"Like you're not pissed off. Look at us. Left here to die by Chris while he's off hosting another show while the rest of the losers are back home by now." Heather retorted. "Mike goes home with million and it was his fault for all the eliminations and he'll probably share it with Zoey, Cam, and…_Gwen_."

Heather's eyes flashed yellow.

"You need not concern yourself with them. They are beneath your notice." Alejandro pointed out.

"And you don't want payback? On Mike for sicking that shark on you _and_ us? Or Gwen for bashing me on the skull with a stick? Or Chris for the humiliation?" Heather asked rhetorically. "Or has bashing your brother cured you of the thrill of seeking revenge?"

"Jose…" Alejandro's eyes flashed yellow. "I enjoyed beating him in that boxing match. I did say Chris would pay for humiliating me."

"Right. We wanted to be rich and famous and looked where it got us." Heather agreed. "Here on the Loser end of the world."

Both of their eyes flashed yellow as their minds became clouded with thoughts of revenge against people who had wronged and cheated them.

Chris.

Mike.

Zoey.

Cameron.

Gwen.

Xxx

"Wow. Their hearts are succumbing to Darkness so fast." The man commented. "They must really be mean or pissed off."

He reached into his pocket and took out a keychain with a black heart that had a red X over it.

"Guess I better get started."

He tossed the key chain down onto the beach. It hit the ground and cracked open, releasing a blast of darkness that spread down the beach. Everyone on the beach saw the darkness spreading and instantly tried to run but they were too slow and the darkness instantly engulfed them.

Xxx

All of them closed their eyes and seemed to fall backwards. The odd thing was that they did not fall back onto the sandy beach they woke up on. All they could feel was themselves falling through what looked like a dark void that they saw when they opened their eyes. They could see each other which was odd because you're not supposed to see through complete darkness.

They tried to speak but they couldn't hear each other. In fact they couldn't hear anything at all. All they could do was continue to fall through the black void they somehow ended up in, even though there was no logical explanation of how they got there.

SPLASH!

Just when they thought they were going to fall forever they suddenly felt the cool sensation of water along with a splashing sound filling their ears as they landed in the water. They tried to swim back up to the surface but to their shock they were still seemingly falling or sinking to the dark bottom of the sea they had landed in. They struggled and struggled while trying to hold their breath for as long as possible, until they couldn't. The released air came out in the form of bubbles and they all realized they were about to drown.

Except they didn't.

They finally reached the bottom of the dark abyss they had found themselves in and to their shock the water vanished, allowing them to breathe fresh air.

"Wha…What the hell? What happened?" Jo looked around.

"Lightning felt like he fell through the ocean…which would be something Lightning would do. Falling through the ocean and coming out the other side." Lightning suddenly laughed.

"Will you all shut up and-AH!" Heather screamed and jumped into Alejandro's arms.

A light flashed in the center between them, blinding them for a second before white doves flew out from the light. As the light expanded outward more white birds flew up from the grounds with it, moving past the teens, showing colors such as red, blue, and green until it stopped, revealing a large platform with what looked look like a giant mural.

"Is that-" Scott started.

"Us?" Duncan finished.

The mural was decorated with orange flames showing the members of the Villainous Vultures with the exception of Gwen and Cameron. They all saw Mike in his Mal persona in the middle with Heather, Scott, Duncan, and Courtney on the left while Jo, Lightning, Ezekiel, and Alejandro were on the right laughing with their eyes closed. Mal was holding a dark and grey looking blade that was shaped like a key for some odd reason and above them was what looked like a black hole, engulfing everything in its reach.

"What the hell is this?" Heather stomped on the glass floor. "Some sort of tribute to us as the villains."

"Well, it is a pretty impressive piece of art." Alejandro commented.

"Yeah…Kind of cool. Shows everyone the kind of villain I am." Duncan smirked. "Though it would be better if I was in the center instead of Mal."

"Yeah, kind of cool." Scott smirked.

"It should be me in the center." Jo objected.

"You're both nuts. Everyone knows Lightning is the middle man!" Lightning flexed his muscles.

"Can we focus on why we're here?" Courtney asked. "Why are we here? What is this?"

**So much to do...**

All of them stopped when they heard what they thought was a mysterious voice whispering into their ears even though no one actually spoke.

**So little time...**

"Did you guys hear that?" Jo asked.

"Weird voice whispering to us? Yep." Duncan nodded.

"I thought it was the grub I had this morning or something. Sometimes I hear voices when I have a little too much dirt that might have something moving." Scott commented.

"Ew!" Courtney flinched as her face turned green.

**You have fallen into the well of darkness but there is still time**

"What well? Who are you?" Heather demanded. "Why are we here?"

**I am that which lies within**

"Right. That helps a lot." Jo sarcastically replied.

"Where are we? Why are we here?" Scott asked.

**You have dived into that which lies within**

"That makes even less sense!" Alejandro commented.

"It makes perfect sense. Lightning dived into the ocean and didn't stop until Lightning made it to the center of the universe!" Lightning laughed.

"Yeah, that's it." Duncan rolled his eyes.

Three pillars rose up from different sections the mural and a flash of light appeared on top of each pillar.

**Three have been chosen and three paths lay before you. Great power sleeps within you, the path you choose will help give it form and give you strength**

"Lightning already strong!" Lightning protested.

"What is this? Some sort of stupid wisdom?" Jo asked. "Who the hell paid you to say all of this crap?! Come on out and show yourself!"

**Do you choose the path of warrior, invincible courage and strength?**

The sword glowed brightly.

**The path of the protector, unmatched defence and fortitude?**

The shield was illuminated next.

**Or the path of mystic, inner strength and knowledge?**

The staff was the last to glow brightly.

**Choose well**

"Is this another one of Chris's tricks?" Heather asked. "Because if it is, I'm really going to punch him in the face."

"Me too." Jo cracked her knuckles, getting annoyed at the voice and the riddles.

"Perhaps but if we humor him we might get out of here." Alejandro walked over to the sword and picked it up. "A handsome senior such as myself can only wield the mighty sword."

**The path of the warrior has been chosen. What will you give up in exchange?**

"Give up?" Alejandro asked.

**To wield great power one must be willing to sacrifice. You must give up either the protector or the mystic.**

Alejandro looked between shield and the staff. "Okay...I give up...the shield."

**Very well. You have given up the power of the defender. Now another must choose their path.**

To signify its point a replacement sword appeared on the empty pillar.

"I guess I'll go next." Duncan walked over and picked up the sword. "And I give up the shield too. I'm already smart and I ain't no protector."

**Very well. You have given up the power of the defender. Now another must choose their path.**

"If it means getting out of here I'll go next." Jo stepped forward and picked up the next sword.

"Is anyone going to make a different choice?" Alejandro rhetorically asked as a new sword appeared.

"Lightning don't need no sword, shield, or puny staff." Lightning flexed his muscles.

**You must choose to pass**

"So shut up and do it." Heather glared at the jock.

"Fine." Lightning walked over to the sword. "Lightning picks warrior not weak defender or nerdy misty anyday."

"It's mystic." Courtney corrected as she picked up the sword. "And I'm already smart so I give up the mystic."

"Well, a good sword always is good to have." Scott reasoned as he picked up the sword when it was turn. "And I give up that misstac thing too."

"Too bad. You could have used that." Jo smirked.

"And now we get out of here." Heather picked up the next sword. "And I give up the shield and staff."

**Very well**

"Now we can get out of here?" Heather impatiently asked.

That was when the glass mural shattered under their feet. There was nothing under it to keep them up so they fell through the darkness again. They towards a new mural and for some reason they started falling slower until they landed on the mural as they were feathers. The new mural depicted seven armoured knights on one side with thirteen cloaked figures on the other. All of them were holding key shaped weapons as they charged to fight each other on a deserted plane.

"I thought we would get out of here!" Heather shouted.

"Perhaps we have another test." Alejandro reasoned to calm his girlfriend down.

**The power of light and darkness, controlled by the Heart**

"Huh?" Lightning and Scott wondered.

"Will you start making sense?" Heather demanded.

As if to answer her question a pillar of darkness appeared in the center of the platform.

"Now what?" Duncan held out his sword.

**Prepare yourselves. You will need to be strong for the trials**

Something emerged from the pillar of darkness but at first it was hard to tell what it was before the pillar vanished. It looked like a small, completely black monster with pointed antennas, twitching limbs and bright yellow eyes that stared at the teens. They shivered for a second because the stare was so intense; they felt like small mice staring at the predator that found its next meal.

**Heartless, the manifestation of darkness that lies within all things**

More insect like monsters appeared and moved towards the teens.

"Stay back!" Jo swung her sword and sliced through the nearest Heartless.

Its body dissolved into a black mist but no one had time to notice this as they all started hack and slashing at the Heartless that surrounded and lunged at them.

"Take this! And take that! And Lightning's got a lot more!" Lightning slashed and hacked at every living thing in sight, even a few of the other teens.

"Watch it, moron!" Heather shouted as she slashed a Heartless down the middle.

"Yes. Please act somewhat professional." Alejandro twirled his sword like an expert and slashed apart every Heartless that came near him or Heather.

"Lightning don't need to act professional! Lightning just got to swish and swash!" Lightning replied as he kept on slashing.

"Does that make a lick of sense?" Duncan asked.

"I guess." Scott shrugged.

"When will they stop coming?" Courtney wondered as she slashed another Heartless.

Lucky for her and everyone else the Heartless stopped appearing and they took out all of the ones that remained.

**You all have strong hearts. Few have made it past this part of the trial**

"Trial? This is some kind of trial?!" Courtney shouted. "I didn't sign up for this!"

"Neither did I!" Heather actually agreed with Courtney.

A second set of stairs appeared before them.

"I don't think he's listening to us." Duncan commented.

"Well then let us continue." Alejandro stepped forward with a sigh and started up the stairs.

Everyone else reluctantly followed him up the stairs for two minutes before they came upon a new platform with a different mural.

"What is it this time?" Heather groaned.

"It's Gwen, Zoey and Mike." Alejandro answered with a puzzled look on his face.

Mike was in the middle sleeping with a sword held in his hands resembling the same sword he lifted to win Total Drama All Stars, resting on his chest. Zoey was on the right while Gwen was on the left, looking like they falling backwards as they faced each other and Mike but their eyes were closed like Mike's. Zoey held a shield while Gwen held what looked to be a staff, a wand, or a combination of both.

"Take a closer look." Duncan pointed above the three

Above the three were smaller portraits of several people they knew in a circular pattern.

"Cody, Owen, Lindsay, and that shorty Cameron." Heather recognized them instantly."And another girl and guy from the fourth season."

"Dawn and Brick." Jo answered.

"And look at the outer ring." Duncan pointed at the outer circle of the mural.

A ring surrounded the portrait, showing smaller pictures of everyone from both generations of Total Drama contestants.

"Everyone else who ever competed on that stupid show." Heather said. "Including us."

"Impressive art." Alejandro commented. "I have never seen such art done with such imagination and detail."

"Why are _they_ here?" Courtney asked as they all stepped onto the mural, gesturing to Gwen, Mike, and Zoey.

"Maybe it's a representation of how the three of them are like the biggest pains in the ass." Heather sourly suggested. "Like when Mike tried to throw me into the acid and Gwen was a pain in my ass for the last four seasons."

"It's kind of true. Zoey threw my own blood sucking leach back in my face. And don't even get me started on the make-up Mike gave me." Jo scowled. "Gwen hasn't done anything to me other than annoyed me with her talk of teamwork. Seriously, doesn't she get that when you're competing for a million dollars it's every fighter for themselves?"

"Gwen wouldn't give me a chance even though I said I was sorry. She should have been proud of me for my cunning!" Courtney crossed her arms with an annoyed look on her face. "I even gave her another chance after she stabbed me in the back with Duncan! And Zoey always being so...goody-goody and friendly to worm her way into everyone's hearts to distract them. And it's all Mike's fault I was eliminated by stealing my chart!"

"Yeah. I gave you a chance didn't I? It's not like you were _all _bad." Scott agreed with an equally sour look on his face. "Plus she said I had no brain when momma said I was the smartest on the ranch! Zoey crushed me with a rock and I ended up getting mauled by Fang when I was eliminated. And Cameron used me as shark bait!"

"Gwen dumped me but I guess it was because I was too heroic or something. Chick's don't fall for the corny hero wimps. They go for the big bad villain dudes with the bad attitude. Too bad I went soft on her or we wouldn't have broken up." Duncan shrugged.

"Yeah sure." Courtney rolled her eyes.

He was just that clueless.

"Don't see how Mal is a good guy unless he's back to Mike. And Zoey kept on telling me how much of a nice guy I was." Duncan continued.

"Lightning no care. Lightning still the best." Lightning walked into the center of the center of the mural. "Show Lightning what Lightning got to do now!"

"He's right. Who cares why it's painted like that? It's another stupid painting." Jo scoffed.

"Yes but each piece of art has meaning. Look at them." Alejandro pointed at the trio. "Mike has a sword, Gwen has a staff, and Zoey has a shield."

"They're carrying the same ones we saw on that first test." Courtney realized. "Mike's the Warrior, Gwen's the Mystic and Zoey is the Defender."

"So? What's so special about them?" Scott asked.

"Yeah. Why they get the fancy paint thing?" Lightning asked.

"Well, they were all finalists at one time. Mike and Zoey were both finalists in the All-Stars while Gwen was a finalist in the first season." Alejandro pointed out. "Gwen and Zoey both even made it to the semi-finals more than once. They've competed more than most of the others and won a lot of challenges both for their teams and individually."

"All of three of them are among the most well known and top competitors according to Sierra." Courtney added.

"Gwen did win more challenges for whatever team she was on." Duncan remembered. "That's what Sierra said in her blog too."

"Mike got all of the skills of his different personalities." Heather added.

"They worked together with the little one Cameron against Mal. They even floated away together when the island sank." Alejandro said.

"They're friends with that little squirt." Jo brought up for no reason, just so that she looked like she wasn't an idiot. "Mike and Zoey even supported Cam against Lightning."

"It is clear that the three of them represent a certain path like the ones offered in the first test. Perhaps they represent each path. Though I'm not sure why the others are in this mural as well and what they represent." Alejandro surmised.

**The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.**

"So now you speak?" Heather asked rhetorically.

Scott screamed and jumped back. "WHAT IS THAT?!"

They spun around and saw their shadows growing bigger and longer before they somehow pulled themselves out of the ground. They combined together to form an even larger shadow that formed into a giant monstrous version of the Heartless they had encountered on the second platform with a heart shaped hole in the chest.

**Darkside, a manifestation of the darkness within worlds. Drawn to the most powerful hearts and only appear when a world is on the brink of being swallowed in darkness**

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Heather shouted.

"Who cares?! JUST FIGHT!" Jo shouted.

They almost had no time to react as the Darkside swung its arm at them. Scott screamed as the arm slammed into him and sent him flying across the mural. He managed to grab the edge before he fell over into the darkness.

"Scott!" Courtney ran over and grabbed his other hand, pulling him up.

Scott gasped for air as he sat on his knees. "Oh man that was close! Thanks."

"Come on. Hurry up and help us stop that thing!" Courtney shouted.

The Darkside was trying to grab the teens running around it with its giant hands while Jo and Lightning were attacking with their blades.

"Take this!" Jo swung at the creature's chest.

"No, take Lightning's!" Lightning leapt up and aimed at the head.

Snarling Darkside grabbed Lightning and tossed him into Jo, sending them tumbling across the mural.

"What do we do?" Heather cowered behind Alejandro.

Alejandro watched as the Darkside lifted its giant hand up into the air, forming it into a tight fist and slammed it into the center of the platform. A swirling portal of darkness surrounded it and released more imp like Heartless that scuttled towards the teens.

"Attack the hands! They're forming of those things!" Alejandro shouted.

"Got it!" Duncan nodded.

With that said Duncan along with Courtney and Scott slashed the Heartless while Alejandro, Jo, and Lightning attacked the monster's giant hand. They managed to leave several small wounds on the monster's hand before it lifted its hand up and out of their reach.

"Don't just stand there! Fight!" Jo shouted at Heather who had stayed behind.

The Darkside roared as reached out to grab them again but this time they were ready and dodged it easily.

"Too slow for Lightning!" Lightning laughed.

The monster kept trying to slam its fists down on them but they were either too fast or too far from its reach to grab them.

"It's got have some kind of weakness!" Courtney shouted.

"Lightning don't need no weakness!"Lightning eapt up and slashed at Darkside's back, scratching its black skin and digging deep into its body.

The monster let out a scream as it tried to throw him off its back. Jo threw her sword at its chest and embedded itself in the monster's skin just below the heart shaped hole in its chest.

"Why won't it die?!" Jo shouted.

"Hmm?" Alejandro looked at his sword and then back at the best as it tried to shake Lightning. "Perhaps…"

He twisted the sword in a reverse grip and then threw it with all of his strength. It sailed through air and actually embedded itself into the Darkside's forehead, between its eyes. The beast let out a scream as it fell over with Lightning jumping off before he was squashed, letting out one final scream before it dissolved into fumes of darkness that vanished a second later.

"You did it!" Heather hugged Alejandro tightly.

"Was there any doubt?" Alejandro smirked.

"Yeah. Showing off for the girls again." Duncan rolled his eyes.

"Lighting could have done that but Lightning don't to. Lightning could just bash its head in with Lightning's own fists." Lightning flexed his muscles again.

"Yeah, sure." Jo rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. Who needs those when you have these?" Scott started flexing his muscles. "Yep. Like I said, strong as an Ox."

"You just don't give up." Courtney sighed.

**Congratulations. You have succeeded**

They looked up when they heard the voice again.

"Okay, we have passed these tests. Now then tell us where we are and how to get out of here." Alejandro demanded.

"Yeah!" Heather nodded.

**You are in that which lies within and now that you have succeeded you can leave. Remember that you survived because of the strength of your hearts, that is what will make your weapons powerful and that power will unlock the greatest weapon of all. But be warned, this power cannot be given back and you are all in the Darkness where your powers will make you vulnerable. Beware of the Darkness and what it can do to your Heart.**

**Remember the lessons of this trial and stay true to the light within and you will be able to do great things. **

"Yeah whatever. Can we go now?" Scott asked.

The platform began to break apart.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Scott screamed as he and Courtney hugged each other for dear life.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Heather screamed as she latched onto Alejandro.

**Always remember that it is darkest before dawn**

The platform shattered and they all screamed as they fell into the darkness.

Xxx

"GAH!" Courtney sat up on the same beach she woke up on earlier. "Wha…What happened?"

"What what happened?" Scott groaned, lying face down on the beach next to her. "Can't a guy have nice nap?"

Courtney looked around and saw the rest of the group groaning and getting up after having apparently lost consciousness on the beach.

"What's going on?" Heather groaned as she sat up. "Why am I here? Where is the damn rescue boat?!"

"Will you shut up?!" Jo grunted as she rubbed her head. "You're giving me a headache!"

"And you're shouting is giving Lightning a headache! Lightning need beauty sleep too you know!" Lightning complained.

"What's with the racket?" Duncan shook his head as he sat up.

"Was it all…just a dream?" Courtney whispered.

"What was a dream?" Scott asked, sitting next to her.

"…Nothing." Courtney shook her head. "It's nothing."

Xxx

"Well, they've survived." The man remarked as he saw that none of them had vanished into Darkness. "That's all eight of them. I guess he was right after all. Though it would have been easier if one or two of them died."

Now for the next stage.

Xxx

"I had this weird dream where we were falling and landed in….I have no idea where we landed but-" Scott started.

"We landed on a mural showing the Total Drama contestants." Alejandro continued.

"Then we did we did a test with swords and weird stuff." Lightning picked up.

"First it was a test where we picked a sword, a shield, or a staff. Then we fought off some small weird…things. Then we had to fight a monster and-huh?" Courtney felt something under her and quickly picked it up. "What in the-"

It was a key chain with a black heart with a red X at the end.

"A keychain?" Courtney wondered.

"What's the big deal? It's not like it's anything strange." Duncan shrugged. "So where were we again?"

"It was just a stupid dream." Heather scoffed as she stood up. "It didn't mean anything."

"What about the fact that we all had the same dream?" Jo retorted. "How can all of us have the same stupid dream?"

As they argued the black heart keychain flashed with a black light for only a second. Everyone was too busy arguing to notice.

"What about the mural? It showed all of us except the ones who stood out the most were Gwen, Mike, and Zoey." Alejandro pointed out.

"What does it matter?" Heather growled, growing sick of this conversation.

"Heather, in case you haven't noticed something weird is going on. There's no rescue, it's been a few days but we haven't had a sun rise, sunset, or even a change in the sky!" Alejandro pointed up at the sky. "We weren't asleep all day and then woke up in the middle of the night for the last few days. I don't think we're in Canada or even in North America anymore!"

"So then where the hell do you think we are?" Heather growled.

"I don't know!" Alejandro exclaimed. "I don't think anyone here knows where we are or if anyone knows we're missing!"

"Okay, now you're just getting paranoid." Heather shook her head.

Behind them shadows began to lengthen and yellow eyes opened up in the shadows,

"He's got a point. We were always rescued at the end of every disaster finale so why haven't they found us yet?" Duncan pointed out.

"We couldn't have gone that far." Courtney replied.

"Then where are we? Where the others? We floated away with members of the hero team. Why didn't they wash up with us?" Duncan asked.

"Yes. We should have had their company considering the balloons floated off into the distance together."

Scott looked behind him and gaped as Heartless began sprouting from the shadows. "Gah…gah…gah…."

"Who cares what happened to them? What matters is how we survive long enough for help to com and rescue us." Jo retorted.

"She's actually right for once." Heather agreed.

"Gah…gah…gah." Scott continued to ramble.

"Will you open your eyes? There is NO help coming!" Alejandro threw hands above his head.

"Don't take that tone with me!" Heather shouted back. "You're my boyfriend; you don't get to talk to me like that!"

"I'm trying to make you see reason and you're blowing all the evidence off!" Alejandro stood up and looked at Heather straight in the eye.

"What evidence? We're just stuck off in a beach on the same lake in Muskoka!"

"Gah…Gah…" By this point the Heartless were fully formed and slowly approached the group who had not noticed.

"THIS IS NOT MUSKOKA!" Alejandro finally shouted. "Muskoka doesn't have a sky like this, even on a cloudy day! The sun has not moved a single inch since we got here! Even you have to agree that is not normal!"

"GAH!" Scott suddenly screamed, surprising everyone.

"What's wrong with-AH!" Courtney screamed as she turned around to see what Scott was screaming at. "It's those things!"

The same shadow bugs, the Heartless were slowly creeping towards them and there was nowhere for them to run. They were surrounded on all sides.

"Those things again?! I thought it was dream!" Heather cried, hiding behind Alejandro.

"So did we all." Alejandro said. "And we don't have swords to cut them up this time."

"Who needs a sword? Lightning will just knock 'em down!" Lightning flexed his muscles.

"The idiot's right for once. We can just our fists to take them out." Jo cracked her knuckles.

"Fine by me." Duncan followed her example. "I've been waiting to beat something to a bloody pulp anyways."

"Me too." Scott grinned. "These guys weren't so tough in that stupid dream. No way I'll be taken down by a bunch of bugs."

"Are you crazy? We should be running." Heather exclaimed.

"She's right. We need to run." Courtney agreed.

"And where to? We can't escape. We're surrounded." Duncan retorted.

"Don't worry babe. I'll keep you safe." Scott stood in front of Courtney.

"You're funeral." Duncan rolled his eyes.

"Stay behind me, Heather. I will not let them touch you." Alejandro said with a grin. "A Burromuerto never abandons a lady in the middle of danger."

"Now shut and FIGHT!"

Xxx

"They are either very brave or very stupid." The man commented with a grin. "Taking on the Heartless with only their fists."

This was more entertaining than he thought.

Xxx

"Take this! And this! And that!" Lightning bashed the nearest Heartless with his fists, shattering them into black smoke. "You ain't no match for Lightning!"

"I said _shut up_ and fight!" Jo shouted as she kicked a Heartless in the head, killing it easily before turning to attack another. "That means shut up!"

"Are those two married or something?" Duncan wondered as he punched and kicked the nearest Heartless along with almost everyone else.

"Though I admit, it is detestable that I must break the family tradition of never attacking the face I believe nothing I do to you will make it look worse." Alejandro commented as he easily dispatched any Heartless close to him.

Despite their strength the Heartless continued to appear and slowly overwhelm them and push them back.

"What do we do?! We can't hold them much longer!" Duncan shouted over the sounds of the fighting.

"Make a run for it!" Heather tried to run but Heartless leapt at her and started pile on her.

"Heather!" Alejandro tried to pull them off his girlfriend but he was soon pulled into the pile of darkness as well.

He grabbed Heather as they were surrounded by darkness, unable to breath. They both hugged each other tightly as the darkness threatened to swallow them. They just held onto each as tight as possible, not noticing a light appearing their hands.

'I didn't get a chance to introduce my family to Heather and rub Jose's face in that I have a beautiful girlfriend.' Alejandro thought.

'I didn't get to win the money, get back at Gwen, or introduce my family to Alejandro and rub it in my siblings' faces that I have a rich boyfriend!' Heather thought.

That was when the light in their hands shined bright enough that it drove away the darkness. The pile of Heartless vanished in the light that paralyzed the rest of the Heartless attacking the group.

"What the-" Duncan trailed off as he saw Alejandro and Heather standing together.

In Alejandro's right hand was a cutlass shaped like a key with a golden hilt, a curved blade at the end and a keychain hanging off at the bottom of the hilt with a mirror hanging at the end.

'_Charmer of Dreams._' A voice whispered in Alejandro's mind.

In Heather's hand was a dark gray key shaped weapon decorated with thorns and the guard was colored maroon like her tube top. At the bottom of the hilt was a keychain with a broken ring hanging at the end of the chain.

'_Shadow Whisperer._' A voice whispered in Heather's mind.

"Where did you two get those?" Scott asked as everyone stared at the key shaped weapons.

"I…I don't know." Alejandro marveled his new weapon.

"They just appeared out of nowhere." Heather stared at the weapon that appeared out of nowhere in her hand.

"Just use them." Duncan said as more Heartless appeared.

The Heartless seemed angry at seeing the two blades and focused on Alejandro and Heather instead of everyone else. Alejandro slashed at a Heartless that leapt at him and his Keyblade easily cut through it. It dissolved into a black mist and faded.

"Well, well, it seems these weapons are quite effective." Alejandro mused as he leapt at the hoards of Heartless and slashed the nearest monsters to pieces.

"I don't know where this came from but I'm not complaining!" Heather said as she started slashing at the Heartless that Alejandro missed.

"Where did they get those anyways?" Courtney wondered.

"Who knows? Who cares?" Duncan answered. "It's killing those things!"

However just because the Heartless were mostly focusing on Heather and Alejandro it did not mean that the rest of the group was safe.

"Will everyone stop gawking and keep on fighting?!" Jo shouted as she kicked a Heartless in the head.

"Lighting no to gawk! Lightning ain't surprised by nothing!" Lightning said as he kicked, punched, kneed and elbowed anything in his way.

"He's getting too far from the rest of us!" Courtney shouted.

"Better him than me!" Jo retorted.

Scott turned and saw a Heartless sneaking up on Courtney. "Look out!"

Courtney turned and screamed as a Heartless leapt at her. Scott jumped out and shielded Courtney with his own body. The Heartless slammed into him and it's body quickly covered Scott in Darkness as he flew back and collided with Courtney.

"What's happening?!" Courtney screamed as her vision became completely dark.

Is this her punishment?

She didn't understand why it would be though. She played the game the way it was meant to be played. It was not her fault that Duncan, Gwen, Scott, and everyone else didn't want to be her friend anymore.

'I can't die here! I still haven't won! I still haven't proven to Gwen that I can be a good friend! THIS CAN'T BE THE END!'

A bright light appeared in Courtney's hand, burning away the darkness from her.

Scott grunted as he looked back up at Courtney. 'So pretty…I know I said I wouldn't forgive unless she really wanted me to…I go to get up…I got to talk to Courtney and say…I figured out that Mike tried to kiss her when he told me about her and Alejandro!'

Scott wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but his determination shined bright and it showed in his hand. There was a blast of light that burned the Darkness of them and healed Scott's Darkness infected wound.

"What the…" Jo trailed off as the light blinded them all temporarily.

A second later Scott and Courtney were visible again and they were holding something.

"Them too?" Duncan exclaimed as he and everyone else froze to see what was in their hands.

In Courtney's hand was a black key shaped sword with a golden guard and a sharp pointed end at the bottom of the hilt that looked like a bee stinger and bee shaped wings sprouting from the top of the guard. Just like with Heather and Alejandro's Keyblades there was a keychain hanging off the hilt with a piece of a broken heart attached to the end.

'_Authority's Hand._' A voice whispered in Courtney's mind.

In Scott's hand was a dark gray key shaped sword with the teeth resembling a rat's front teeth, a dark red guard and at the end of keychain hanging off the hilt was a string tied in a bow.

'_Devious Servant._' A voice whispered in Scott's mind.

"They got fancy sword too? No fair! Lightning should get all the fancy swords!" Lightning crossed his arms.

"Where do they keep coming from?" Duncan questioned.

It was getting a little suspicious with how those key shaped swords keep on appearing in the hands of anyone who was about to be killed by those things. Then there were those things, those monsters from the dream they all had.

'What the hell is going on here?' Duncan wondered.

"Neat." Scott marveled at the new weapon his hands. "It's so shiny."

"Hurry! Use it to take out those things!" Courtney pointed at another batch of Heartless that crawling towards him.

"Okay!" Scott quickly started hacking and slashing the Heartless that got close to him. "This is awesome!"

Courtney leapt forward and spun around, slashing the Heartless that surrounded her and tried to gang up on her.

"Interesting turn of events, is it not?" Alejandro remarked.

"Fight now, think later." Heather retorted.

"Where do they keep coming from?!" Duncan shouted as more Heartless appeared around him. "I am getting sick of this!"

Fed up with the Heartless attacking them Duncan let out a roar as he charged forward, not noticing the flash of light appeared in his hand.

"DIE YOU FREAKS!" Duncan jumped up, leaping towards the Heartless with a loud yell.

The light in his hand grew and flash brightly, blinding everyone and the Heartless for a second before the nearest one was sliced in half.

"Huh?" Duncan asked as he looked at the light in his hand fading away to show his new weapon.

It was colored black and green with flame like patterns decorating the guard with sharp teeth decorating the end and a silver chain hung off the bottom of the hilt with a skull at the end.

'_Destiny's Rebellion._' A voice whispered in Duncan's mind.

"Now him?" Jo grunted. "So why haven't I got anything yet? I'm stronger than any of these weaklings here."

"Ain't no one stronger than Lightning!" Lightning retorted. "Not even you, Man-Girl!"

That comment earned him a punch in the face from Jo. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

She reached down and grabbed Lightning by the collar before lifting him up.

"You want to stay that to my face?" Jo growled.

She was getting tired of putting up with everyone from her old weakling team from both seasons to everyone else. She was the best at everything, sports, fights, and leadership and this is what she had to show for it?

"Lightning ain't afraid." Lightning grunted trying to pull Jo's grip off him. "Now let Lightning go!"

"If you insist!" Jo let him by tossing him over her and into the ground, hard.

Lightning grunted in pain as he looked up and saw Jo wiping her hands. "You…"

"What's the matter? Don't tell me Lightning can't handle a little pain?" Jo grinned.

"That's it! Lightning had enough of you!" Lightning got up and ran at Jo.

"Bring it on!" Jo shouted, prepared to fight.

"Is this the time for-" Courtney stopped when she saw a light flashing in both of their hands. "Don't tell me-"

Just as Lightning and Jo swung their fists at each other their fists were engulfed flashes of light just like with everyone else and there was a loud clanging sound.

"What the-" Both Lightning and Jo stopped when they saw what the source of the sound was.

In Jo's hand was a blue and gray colored Keyblade with spikes adorning the guard and the bladed end that showed off its key like appearance. At the bottom of the hilt was a silver chain with what looked a spiked boxing glove at the end.

'_Roaring Brawler._' A voice whispered in Jo's mind.

Lightning's Keyblade was blue and yellow, resembling a javelin of sorts with the typical key teeth running down the end with a golden guard and a silver basketball handing at the end of the silver chain attached to the hilt.

'_Lightning Striker._' A voice whispered in Lightning's mind.

"Whoa." Lightning grinned. "Lightning likes."

"Hm…" Jo experimentally slashed with her new weapon. "It'll do."

With that said the seven of them charged forward and slashed the remaining Heartless to bits.

"Ha! Take that!" Scott laughed victoriously, holding up his Keyblade.

"Yeah! No match for us, Villains!" Duncan laughed.

"But what were they?" Courtney asked.

"Who cares? Lightning won! Lightning always wins!" Lightning waved his Keyblade above his head, too close to several others.

"Watch it!" Jo slapped it away from her.

"Seriously guys. What were those things?" Courtney questioned.

"Heartless, manifestations of Darkness in people's hearts."

They all spun around to see a strange man standing several yards away from them with a grin on his face.

"Who are you?" Alejandro levelled his Keyblade at the stranger.

"Me? Well, I could be your rescuer if you're a good boy. My employer would like to meet all of you, especially when he hears what you all managed to get." The man answered.

Little did they know was that they were about to become part of something greater than they could imagine.

Xxx

"So they all got one." Chris chuckled. "This is great."

He sat in the chair with the multiple screens that showed all the former Total Drama Contestants getting their Keyblades.

"They've got all their Keyblades. Now begins the next phase of the plan for the greatest show in the universe." Chris laughed. "Tune in next time for TOTAL. DRAMA. BIRTH BY SLEEP!"

His laughter rang throughout the dark room as he prepared to watch what he had helped start.

Xxx

Somewhere, in the middle of a vast ocean two young boys walked along the beach of a small island. Their feet were in the shallow water since the summer sun made the sand very hot to walk on. They talked about simple things, unconcerned about anything other than spending this beautiful day having fun on the beach of their home.

At least until the silver haired boy stopped and pointed forward. "Hey look. There's something up ahead."

"What is it?" The young brown haired boy asked.

Up ahead they saw a young boy lying face down in the dirt.

"Who is that?" The brunette asked.

"I don't know." The silver haired boy said as they wan up to the unconscious boy as they pushed him over onto his back.

He had dark skin, glasses that were broken, a red hoodie and yellow shorts that were all torn. His arm was in a cast showing that he had been injured. The silver haired boy put his fingers down on the boy's neck to check his pulse.

"Is he okay?" The brunette asked.

"He's alive." The silver haired boy answered. "We got to get help."

The brunette nodded as they helped dragged the unconscious boy up onto the beach, lifting his arms over their shoulders to better get him back home where he could get proper first aid. They did not know where he came from but all they knew was that he needed help. As they dragged him back to their home the boy's eyes fluttered slightly as he partially regained conscious.

"Mike…Zoey…Gwen…"

He blacked out again.


	4. Darkness and Light Gathering

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

_Once all worlds were one united world, full of people with light in their hearts, believing light to be a blessing from the Gods from a distant land._

_This land was known as Kingdom Hearts._

_Many legends surrounded Kingdom Hearts and the precious light it gave to all life. However this light gave birth to darkness in people's hearts as they sought to control this precious light for many reasons: greed for power or fear of what would happen if Kingdom Hearts ever fell into the wrong hands. It was for this reason a war was fought. The only way to truly control Kingdom Hearts was its physical counterpart, the X-blade._

_Warriors crafted key shaped weapons, imitations of the X-blade but powerful in their own right as many slides clashed to control the X-blade. The war brought out the best and worst that lurked in the hearts of all living beings: greed, anger, hate, envy, love, sadness, kindness and all emotions that existed. However, for all the strength and determination each side showed in each battle there would be no victory._

_Or any survivors to tell the tale._

_During the climax of the final battle the X-blade was shattered into twenty pieces: seven pieces of light and thirteen pieces of darkness that vanished from existence._

_The X-blade's destruction caused Kingdom Hearts to vanish into the darkness and a cataclysm that shattered the World into dozens of smaller worlds that would make up what would one be known as the Universe. The light in the hearts of innocent children kept the darkness at bay yet separated the worlds from each other by a door that could only be unlocked by someone holding the very weapon that caused the destruction of the ancient world: The Keyblade._

_Learning their lessons the Keyblade Masters resolved to protect the world from further destruction by the darkness they had created, becoming Guardians of the Light that had been created by the innocence in the hearts of children. The Keyblade War, the name they had given the conflict that shaped the Universe as it was now passed into legends and myths with all knowledge of Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade lost to the flow of time with only a world holding a desert littered with thousands of Keyblades once wielded by great warriors who perished in the final battle. _

_This place would be known as the Keyblade Graveyard and it served as a warning to all of the danger and consequences of trying to control power beyond all comprension._

_However the war and what it was fought for was never truly lost and the remaining knowledge was sealed over fear that someone would seek to repeat history and cause another great cataclysm._

_They were right to be fearful of such a threat._

_For there will come a day when one discovers this tale and seek to change the universe for the better and worse._

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report I**

_Much time has passed since I left the home of my youth behind, and in the myriad worlds I have since visited, I have gained much knowledge. On these pages, I intend to record a portion of that knowledge, and put the course of my life to paper._

_Upon reflection, my life underwent the most considerable sea-change when I arrived at that place. Yes, it began when I found a Master, and another I would later call my brother—when I found a new home._

_Then there was the Keyblade. For what purpose was it begotten, and by whom? During my training as one of its wielders, the precepts offered a clear answer: the Keyblade existed so that we who watched over the light could protect the world from the shadows._

_But was that the TRUE answer? Could there not be more to it than that? My heart sought knowledge, and so I sometimes visited other worlds—though such travel was forbidden unless duty required—and found what my heart sought._

Xxx

**Unknown World  
Many Years Ago**

A man with dark skin and silver shoulder length hair stood on a beach, watching as the sun went down. "This world is just too small."

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report II**

_Our Master instructed us to don armor while traveling between worlds, so that we might shield ourselves from the darkness. But there, in the Lanes Between, I could feel the force of it—the power—and from then on, I forwent my armor's "protection." I had been told the darkness would devour me, but what terrors could it possibly hold, so long as I found the strength to control it?_

_The World is vast—and the worlds within the greater World, uncountable. Like little islands, they dot a great Ocean Between which keeps them ignorant of each other, uncorrupted._

_Each world had its own order. Unlike us, they could not know of the World in its entirety, and we were never to enlighten them._

Xxx

**Unknown World  
Many Years Ago**

The same young man was now speaking to a man wearing a brown cloak that completely hid his features from view of anyone watching. The silver haired young man listened patiently as the cloaked man spoke and then held out a hand to the young man. A blast of darkness came out and engulfed the young man, setting forth the events that would determine the future.

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report III**

_In ancient times, no such buffers kept the larger World divided; there were no walls of light enclosing each smaller world the way they do today. Nothing prevented one from physically interfering with the next._

_At that time, the World was filled with light, and a great many Keyblade wielders. But without buffers, the worlds began to squabble over ownership of the light. You see, they learned of the Keyblade's true use. War broke out as each of the Keyblade wielders struggled to lay claim to an almighty entity known as Kingdom Hearts._

_Kingdom Hearts could be described as an aggregate of hearts. Worlds, too, have hearts, just like people; each world's heart is concealed from sight, beyond a hidden door. By gathering all the hearts of all the worlds in a single place, one may complete Kingdom Hearts._

Xxx

**Many Years Ago  
Land of Departure**

"Wait Xehanort." Eraqus called out as his old friend began walking away. "There is a reason the precepts bar us from such knowledge. Why do you seek the X-blade? Would you blanket all the worlds in Darkness, reduce them to nothing?"

"But Darkness did cover the world once, in legend." Xehanort answered thoughtfully. "We know so little about the Keyblade War, only that it was just the beginning. Amidst the chaos a precious Light was found. It is a curious tale and one worth exploring. They say ruin brings about creation so what would another Keyblade War bring?" He raised his hands above him, trying to grasp the light shining down on him from the window from above. "When the Darkness falls will we be worthy of that precious Light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers. The X-blade needs to be forged and with it the door the to Keyblade War unlocked."

"Fool…you would risk an apocalypse out of sheer curiosity? I will never allow it, Xehanort. Not while I live!" Eraqus exclaimed.

"But once again you have all wrong, Eraqus. Darkness is a beginning, you see, not an end. At birth, every one of us emerges from Darkness into a world of Light, do we not?" Xehanort asked philosophically.

"Poetic excuses!" Eraqus snapped.

Xehanort seemed disappointed at the answer of his close minded friend and began walking way.

"If words won't dissuade you…" Eraqus summoned his Keyblade. "Only one thing will!"

Eraqus's Keyblade resembled an old fashioned skeleton key with its teeth shaped like an 'E' with its keychain resembling a strange symbol. Eraqus leaped forward, charging at Xehanort who turned around with a smirk as he summoned his own Keyblade that had an aura of Darkness surrounding it. He fired two blasts of Darkness that hit Eraqus in the face, bringing him down on his knees. Eraqus grunted as the Darkness burned away at his skin as Xehanort approached, looking ready to kill him.

"That power…Has the Darkness taken you, Xehanort?!" Eraqus shouted as he looked at his old friend.

"Not your concern." Xehanort turned away and walked away calmly, not sparing Eraqus a second glance as he collapsed and lost conscious.

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report IV**

_And when Kingdom Hearts is complete, it is said the one who opens its door will bring about the creation of the Next World. Such a feat is above any human. Or, to put it a different way: whoever opens that door will be reborn as something far greater than human._

_Light and darkness are two sides of the same coin; without darkness, there is no light. The Keyblade wielders' great war over Kingdom Hearts was fought by defenders of the light, servants of darkness, those who sought to reconcile the two, and those motivated by nothing more than lust for power. A whole spectrum of thought was swept into the conflict, and the worlds that did not go to war found the war brought to them. In the end, the whole World was cast into darkness._

_That was how the ancient Keyblade War drew to a close. To this day, no one has ever managed to open the door to Kingdom Hearts._

_Sometime later, the little light that remained in the hearts of the few gave rise to the World we know today: one made of many worlds behind just as many walls, so that the Keyblade War would not be repeated._

Xxx

**Four Years Ago  
After Total Drama Island Season Finale**

"So all I have to is help decide which of these losers have what it takes to get a Keyblade and I'll be able to take my show across the Universe?" Chris asked eagerly, looking at the pictures of the Total Drama contestants.

"The Keyblade is not a weapon that many can wield. In order to find the right one we must ascertain which heart is the strongest." Xehanort turned away from Chris. "It might take some time to find the proper vessels."

"Oh, don't worry about that. There is a reason my show is called Total Drama." Chris chuckled sinisterly. "I guarantee you'll get your three losers."

"I'm sure you will, but remember it is not the most physical, cunning, or devious hearts that show the strength of the Keyblade. One must be willing to endure many trials." Xehanort calmly replied.

"Leave that to me. I know the perfect way to figure it out." Chris smirked.

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report V**

_At present, the lanes and corridors that run between the worlds may only be traversed by us Keyblade wielders, and those who have given themselves over to darkness._

_As the former, our duty is to cross the chasms between worlds and guard against the latter, whose darkness corrupts and contaminates, so that no world need ever be lost again._

_Few Keyblade wielders remain now; I have heard of but a handful of others outside my circle. But the World is vast, and more of our kind may be out there_

_Now, in addition to the realm of light in which we reside, there is also a realm of darkness, and the realm between which connects the two. The realm of darkness is most forbidden; I am told none who set foot there have ever returned._

Xxx

**Two years ago  
After Total Drama World Tour finale**

"I see you've managed to make a spectacular mess." Xehanort commented as Chef put Alejandro in the robot suit. "All that was needed to find three who were strong enough to stand the trials."

"Okay, so I hit a few snags." Chris replied, noticing Xehanort narrow one eye dangerously. "But we're making progress."

"Indeed. You've shown several subjects with a strong sensitivity to darkness but that is not enough." Xehanort answered, his looks becoming neutral again. "Almost all of them have shown to be too weak for the trials. Only a handful has shown that they have a chance."

"I got a new cast rolling in and we'll have more suckers to test to see if they got what it takes." Chris spoke up. "They won't be like the rest of the losers I got."

"We'll see, won't we?" Xehanort rhetorically asked.

Xxx

**Xehanort Report VI**

_There are three families of Keyblades: the Keyblades of light we wield, Keyblades of darkness, and Keyblades of heart._

_The first and second families differ only in origin; Keyblades of darkness are found in the realm of darkness, and are counterparts to the Keyblades we use in the realm of light._

_The third type of key, the Keyblade of heart, came into existence when the World was reorganized after the Keyblade War. Without this key, Kingdom Hearts is forever beyond a person's reach. Only by gathering together seven hearts of pure light—hearts completely devoid of darkness—may one forge a Keyblade of heart and open the door to Kingdom Hearts._

_And, as stated before, opening this door arguably gives that person control over all worlds and all people._

Xxx

**One Year Ago  
After Total Drama Revenge of the Island Finale**

Chris McLean sulked in his prison cell, wondering how he got into this mess.

"You seem to be holding up well, McLean."

"Gah?!" Chris jumped and spun to see… "Xehanort?!"

"I take it the test didn't go well." Xehanort commented calmly, standing on the other side of the cell with his hands folded behind his back as usual. "Since you are in prison."

"Oh it went great. There are a couple who got what it takes, both Light and Darkness." Chris quickly said, hoping the next few seconds would not be his last.

"I know. A good number of hearts representing Light and Darkness have revealed themselves. But in order for there to be a complete confirmation there needs to be one more test." Xehanort answered, turning away from Chris. "A final test to show their strength."

"And how can I do that when I'm here?" Chris gestured sourly to his uniform.

"I have friends of my own with proper connections." Xehanort smirked. "Just remember to play your role correctly this time."

Xxx

**Xehanort Report VII**

_I have uncovered the Keyblade's ultimate mystery. You see, besides the three families of Keyblades, there is another "Key Blade." While it may sound the same when spoken, it is notated uniquely: "χ-blade." And make no mistake; while it resembles a normal Keyblade, it is something altogether different._

_Keyblades are said to be man-made counterparts to Kingdom Hearts. The χ-blade, however, coexists with Kingdom Hearts._

_It is only forged when two hearts of equal power intersect—one heart of pure darkness, one heart of pure light. At the time of its forging, Kingdom Hearts appears. It must be noted, though, that this Kingdom Hearts is special. Unlike the Kingdoms brought about forcibly and artificially through the collection of hearts, THIS Kingdom Hearts is a perfect and complete union of ALL the worlds' hearts. Surely it was over this that the ancient Keyblade War was fought._

_If so, the walls that divide the worlds today are of little consequence. With the χ-blade, all their hearts could be instantly reunited—and the Keyblade War, refought._

Xxx

**Two weeks ago**

"All right, what the HELL is going on here?! What have you done to us now, CHRIS?!"

Said host smirked at the enraged voice of Heather as she and the rest of the group she was with glared hatefully at him. He sat at a large desk in a dark colored room with multiple screens that were all blank so they couldn't see what he had been watching.

"Well, you guys made it. Congratulations." Chris simply answered with his signature smile. "I didn't think you'd make it."

"Drop the act, McLean. What did you do?" Duncan's Keyblade appeared in his hand as he pointed it threateningly at the former host.

"Oh relax. I just helped you guys toughen up as a favor for the greatest show in the universe." Chris shrugged.

"I demand an explanation, Chris. What have you done?" Alejandro stepped forward. "My family has made many powerful friends; you do not want to mess with us."

"Do you truly believe that money is true power? Or the so called lawyers you believe can inspire fear in everyone?"

They all turned around to see an elderly look man walk into the room, his back hunched forward and his hands folded behind his back.

"Who are you?" Jo scowled. "You work with the mop head here?"

"Hey! No one insults my beautiful due!" Chris stood up from his desk with a scowl.

"Christopher is a mere associate of mine." The old man answered. "I see you have all survived your stay in the Realm of Darkness."

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" Courtney interjected.

"Tell me, do any of you believe money and fame is true power? Do you believe that wealth will grant you all your wishes?" The old man asked.

"What's it to you?" Jo rudely asked.

"What if I told you already have true power in your hands?" The old man gestured to the Keyblade in Duncan's hand. "But summoning the divine weapon is not enough. You need more. You must call on the power of Darkness! Unleash the anger and rage all of you feel inside of you, make it grow stronger, embrace it within you! That is true power!"

"Shut up!" Jo and Lightning summoned their Keyblades. "We didn't come here to listen to some old coot!"

"Yeah! Who needs darky when you can just bush a guy's head in?" Scott summoned his Keyblade.

The rest summoned their Keyblades as well but the old man didn't seem worried. "Such anger but no wish or skill to use it. It is this weakness which led to all of losing the chance to fulfill your desires and left with only humiliation."

"I said SHUT UP!" Jo leapt forward.

The old man swung his arm out as a flash of darkness appeared in his hand and solidified into something that not only blocked Jo's Keyblade but sent her flying back, colliding with Lightning and knocked them both down.

"That weapon…" Alejandro looked at the key shaped weapon in the old man's hand. "It's like ours!

"Yes. Like you all, I hold the divine weapon: the Keyblade." The old man said, holding his Keyblade to the side. "Rejoice, for you all have not only been blessed with this powerful weapon but if you accept my proposal you shall have all of your desires granted."

Xxx

**Xehanort Report VIII**

_My brother pupil Eraqus thinks only in absolutes. He has persuaded himself that light is the only way, but forgets that light cannot exist without shadow. I believe a balance of light and darkness is what sustains our World, but too much of the darkness has been stamped out, disrupting that balance. Someone must tear down this tyranny of light and reorganize the World around the darkness which then creeps back in._

_Eraqus and I did not see eye to eye. I left, and wandered the World. This was perhaps the first time I felt truly free since that day I departed my boyhood home. But free to do what? I had already shown the Mark and become a Keyblade Master—but having been passed over as Successor; all that remained to me was the road of teacher._

_Ordinarily, Keyblade Masters take pupils under their wings, malleable minds in which to impress the precepts of the Keyblade wielder and keep our profession alive for generations to come. Was my time drawing to an end, then, after all I had accomplished since casting away the place of my birth? Surely waiting for a quiet death would not do, not when there was still so much I needed to see for myself. Powers help me, I thought, my body is so old..._

Xxx

"My world is gone?!" Mike exclaimed as he listened to the tale told to him by the old man who called himself Xehanort.

"Yes. The Heartless are manifestations of the darkness that lives within the hearts of all who exist." Xehanort nodded with a saddened look on his face.

"So my family, all my friends, are they…" Mike trailed off with a horrified look on his face.

"Not necessarily. There is always a chance that someone survives but they would be lost on a new world out there." Xehanort gestured to the sky. "It would be impossible to search all of the worlds as your body would be dust long before you've seen every world."

"Then I'll do it. I'll search every world until I find my friends." Mike stood up.

"And what will you do? You have no idea how to use your now powers to travel from world to world or what dangers might lurk out there." Xehanort pointed out calmly. "But I can help."

"Really?" Mike asked hopefully and desperately.

"I believe I can." Xehanort raised his hand and a black Keyblade appeared in his hand.

"That's-" Mike gasped.

"Like you I am in possession of a Keyblade and have been for a long time." Xehanort nodded with a smile. "And I have been looking for an apprentice for some time now."

Xxx

**Xehanort Report IX**

_We Keyblade Masters have a special gift. We can extract a heart, be it our own or that of another. By continuing this cycle, it is possible to remain in the world of the living forever._

_As a boy, I dreamed of seeing the farthest reaches of the World. If I only went far enough, there had to be a world out there in which no one had ever before set foot. And now I know of just such a world. If I become the first to open Kingdom Hearts' door, I can create a Next World in which light and darkness exist in perfect equilibrium._

_So there I stood, with vast knowledge in one gnarled, dying hand, and newfound purpose in the other. The next step was clear: I needed a new vessel_

_And that was when I set up a way to prepare my future plans through a live entertainment television program hosted by Chris McLean to bring in numerous vessels, showing their strengths and weaknesses and determining if their hearts had the strength to survive the coming trials needed to set up my plan. After three seasons the list had been brought down to a mixture of contestants who had shown the strength gain the power of the Keyblade. The All-Stars was a season of older contestants from the first three seasons and the fourth season who had all shown potential in every situation they had faced, mentally and physically. The list was finished, the hearts of light and darkness had been chosen and now all that was left was to test them._

_The Guardians of Light begins with the Trinity, the Warrior, the Guardian, and the Mystic._

_The contestant named Michael but better known as Mike had strength to overcome his alternate personalities, able to defeat them and use their strength for his own, the power of the Warrior given form._

_The young woman named Zoey, a girl with the skills and agility but only uses them to defend her friends, like a true Guardian._

_Then there is the Mystic, Gwendolyn or better known as Gwen with wisdom beyond her years but with an inner strength even when she is alone and outnumbered, strong without great strength of warriors or guardians but perfect for the unpredictability and creativity of a Mystic. _

_Each one follows the traditional path of a Keyblade bearer with the qualities befitting them of their path. They had all survived some of the more strenuous of the 'drama' McLean stirred for more ratings for his show. They had shown strength despite the harshness of these trials and endured to the very end and McLean believes they are perfect subjects to be tested. I would later learn he was actually correct as they all survived._

_The next step was to set them on the path I had chosen for them. _

_It is then that I met young Michael and made him my pupil. We were destined to meet, and I could sense the potential within him as I watched from the Total Drama show, but the boy was too benign for his own good despite the darkness lurking with him. I came to the conclusion he was too frail to serve as a vessel, and decided to use him for a second purpose I had in mind._

_I would remove the darkness from his heart and split him in two. Then I would have my first heart of pure light, and my first heart of pure darkness._

Xxx

"How does this help me?!" Mike cried as more Heartless, Xehanort had called them Neo-Shadows, surrounded him. "There's no way I can fight them!"

Xehanort watched from above Mike and the Neo-Shadows. Xehanort had trained him how to use the Keyblade somewhat but soon enough Mike was left wondering if Xehanort even cared about helping him.

"No. It is because you are trying to hold it in. Let the dark impulses waken in the pit of your heart. Release them, here and now! Sharpen your fear into rage!" Xehanort demanded as more Heartless surrounded Mike. "You must if you wash to save your friends! If you do not let the storm in you run its course, it will wipe you from the face of the world, make no mistake. Do it. Embrace the darkness. Produce for your Master the X-blade!"

"The X-blade? What are you talking about? This wasn't part of the deal!" Mike questioned but that moment of questioning left him open to attack as a Neo-Shadow leapt forward and knocked him unconscious.

"Really?" Xehanort stood over the unconscious Mike and used his foot to roll Mike onto his back. "You would rather die than use the power? Even if it means that you would be able to you're your friends. Feckless Neophyte."

Xehanort held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade.

"If I must…then I will extract the darkness from within you myself."

Xehanort pointed his Keyblade down at Mike before suddenly it shined brightly and shot a beam at Mike's chest. The boy awoke with widened eyes when the beam hit him and a glowing ball containing a heart to rose into the air. Mike groaned as his eyes glassed over and once again lost conscious but Xehanort ignored him in favor of the heart floating in the air. Darkness suddenly consumed the heart causing it to vanish that expanded outwards into a humanoid shape.

The darkness took the form of a boy the same age as Mike.

He wore a black and red organic-looking bodysuit and was also wearing a silver helmet covered with dark glass, hiding his face from view. The new being landed softly on the ground before Xehanort and the now seemingly comatose Mike.

"Empty creature from young Michael riven…to you, the name Mal, the same name as the alternate personality shall be given." Xehanort proclaimed.

"Yes, Master." Mal bowed his head and chuckled evilly. "It's good to feel alive."

Xehanort then looked at Mike with a thoughtful look on his face.

Xxx

"Looks like Mike just couldn't cut it." Chris commented as he watched the recording of Mike getting defeated by the Neo-Shadows. "How come you didn't just let him die?"

"I did not think you would care for the fate of anyone as long as you would get the thrill of watching the journey, Christopher." Xehanort replied as he slipped a black cloak on.

"I don't. The dude's the first to go, not my problem." Chris shrugged. "So why drop him on your home world?"

"If he is meant to pass it might as well be peaceful." Xehanort replied as Mike was wrapped in a white sheet.

"Still, why'd you go and recreate that freak, Mal?" Alejandro grimaced. "We were all better off with him dead and gone."

"Mal will do nothing against any of you." Xehanort lifted Mike over his shoulder. "He has more pressing matters."

"Yeah, like killing those things he spawns." Duncan commented with a shudder.

No one wanted to be near Mal kept on spawning strange monsters, killing them, and spawning them all over again.

"He is preparing himself just as you all should be." Xehanort opened a portal of Darkness. "I suggest you all continue your training."

Xxx

The black cloaked man stepped out of the portal onto the beach of the island he had been born on with a body wrapped in a white sheet.

"There, you see? An empty world, like a prison. I imagine you'll be right at home." The man said as he sat the body down on a Paopu Tree.

The men then turned around and began walking away.

Xxx

**"Hey, where am I?"**

"That voice…" Mike looked around. "I've heard that voice before…' "It's you, but why? Why are you here again?"

Suddenly, Mike was falling into water, just falling, like before. The white blanket that had been covering him disappointed, leaving him shirtless. He opened his eyes, flipping so he would land on his feet, on a bright white pillar.

**I'm a brand new heart.** The silent voice answered, much to Mike's confusion.

"But this is–" Mike paused. "Why are you in my heart?"

**The light brought me. I saw it shining in the distance... and followed it here.**

"Yeah, that was my light." Mike held a hand over his chest, as he looked down at the platform that he remembered from before.

It was missing a piece of it, almost a quarter of it.

"But my heart is fractured. And now... the little I have left is slipping away."

**Then you should join your heart with mine. **

"Huh?"

**Now our hearts have touched. Nothing else will slip away. And one day... you'll be strong enough to win back the part that already did.**

"Okay…thanks."

**It's time to wake up now. All you need to do is...**

"Open the door." Mike knew what he needed to do.

His heart, had suddenly gain its colour back, it featured himself, looking asleep with a sleeping Zoey and Gwen while he was holding a sword while Zoey held a shield and Gwen held a staff. Above them were several portraits of several friends while a ring surrounded them with smaller portraits of all Total Drama contestants.

"Cam, Gwen…Zoey." Mike closed his eyes. "Just you wait. I'll find you guys and then we'll…all…go…home."

Xxx

"What's going on?!" Chris shouted as he ran into the room.

On the screen, Mal was screaming in agony on the ground of the massive graveyard, clutching his chest. When Mal was released from Mike's heart he covered his head with a silver helmet and black glass covering his face. It shattered and showed his face, a black formless humanoid face with glowing red eyes.

"Great. Where's Xehanort when you need him?" Chris groaned.

Xxx

In the graveyard Mal was curled up into a ball as he struggled with the pain.

'Open the door.' A voice whispered in his head.

"Mike? Is that you?" Mal whispered.

He saw a bright light forming in front of him.

"What's happening?" Mal stared into the light.

The light answered his question by surrounding him and a voice whispered in his mind. "Let's open the door."

Mal opened his eyes to see the light and darkness had faded. He sat up in the middle of the desert and picked up his helmet.

"Huh?" Mal gasped when he saw the reflection of his face on his helmet.

He looked like he did when he was controlling Mike on Total Drama All Stars.

'How did this happen? That light…Was it…A newborn heart like me? It saved Mike's heart from fading away.' Mal realized.

What did that leave for him? He should be relieved that he was free from Mike now. But now that he was free what would he do now? What was he supposed to do?

Why did he feel so much pain in his chest?

As he thought it over, more and more Unversed appeared around him.

He looked up at the Unversed as they gathered around him. "…What are you looking at?"

He picked up his Keyblade, a black version of Mike's Keyblade, and started killing them over and over again. For thirty minutes he repeated this cycle until the pain became too unbearable, causing to collapse onto the ground and if anyone was watching him they would have surprised by what he was doing.

He was crying.

Xxx

As Xehanort began walking away Mike lifted his hand up. Xehanort turned around and saw Mike's hand up and in a flash of light appeared his Keyblade.

"A Keyblade?" Xehanort whispered.

The Keyblade in Mike's hand suddenly started glowing a golden colour, before shooting off a beam of light at the sky. Xehanort allowed a smirk to grace his features as he watched silently. Mike's eyes slowly opened as he looked at the sky.

Xxx

"Damn you, Mike! This was supposed to be my time! MY TIME!" Mal howled to the sky above him. "HOW COULD YOU REJECT ME?!"

As he cried someone approached him. "You poor creature. You seek salvation but killing those creatures will not help."

"And what should I do old man?" Mal looked up at Xehanort with a glare. "What do you think I should do? You separated us in the first place!"

"The X-blade." Xehanort smirked. "It is the only way for you and Michael to truly unite again and the X-blade will be salvation not only to you but the whole world."

"Fine…" Mal stood up. "I'll become the X-blade you want so badly if it'll finally rid me of this pain."

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report X**

_As was to be expected, young Michael lacked the constitution for such an ordeal. I was able to remove the darkness inside him and create Mal, a heart of pure darkness, but young Michael drifted into the clutches of sleep._

_Michael's heart of pure light and Mal's heart of pure darkness... If both could be made strong enough to one day clash, I knew the χ-blade would be forged._

_But Mal took too much of Mike's heart, and from that fracture, I could see the last of Mike's light was slipping away. The boy deserved a place to spend his final moments peacefully. And what should come to mind but my own boyhood home._

_My legs took me there unbidden, and as I stood there on the same beach where I had made my choice so many years ago, I thought: not a single thing has changed. Here, in this quiet world, time marches in place. Content that Michael would find peace here, I started to walk away—but just then, the boy held up his Keyblade. The light within him had not died._

Xxx

**One Week Ago  
Megaville**

It was mid-day as Jack stood in the middle of a clearing set up with mannequins in front of him. The mannequins were all armed with various wooden weapons. Swords, spears, shields, and various knives both large and small.

"Are you ready, Zoey?" Jack called out.

"Ready." Zoey nodded.

Zoey was wearing a red short sleeved shirt with a turtleneck collar with green army style pants with two belts around her waist and black steel toed shoes. She wore red fingerless gloves that gripped her Keyblade tightly as she summoned it.

"Thank you for helping out, Grim." Jack nodded to the figure behind him. "There are not a lot of magical users in Megaville who would understand the need to keep this secret."

"Bah. Ain't nothing." The person wore a long black hooded robe with a red interior and spoke with a Jamaican accent. "I just don't want da Darkness to come to this world. It's bad enough dat da Heartless have been very active but you are taking a risk training dis girl."

When Zoey first met Grim she nearly shrieked in fright as she instantly realized he was no ordinary person at all. In fact he wasn't exactly a person…

He was a walking skeleton carrying a scythe.

And he was called the Grim Reaper.

The actual Grim Reaper, Death itself, the being who comes to collects a person's soul when they die and take them to their designated afterlife. She was almost ready to believe that she was actually dead until Jack reassured she was still alive while Grim waved off her reaction, actually enjoying it for some odd reason.

"And if we do nothing then when the Darkness comes she will have no experience in protecting herself or anyone else. Only a Keyblade can stop the Heartless and seal the key hole that will stop the Heartless from destroying this world." Jack calmly answered.

"I know all of dis, but I still don't like it." Grim mumbled.

"I know." Jack nodded. "Now then…"

"I'm on it." Grim raised his skeletal hand and it glowed bright purple that shot out and hit the mannequins surrounding Zoey.

The mannequins suddenly began moving on their own and slowly advanced towards Zoey. The red head readied herself, taking a Kendo stance. She had been in Megaville for three months now and she had studied under Jack, learning how to use her Keyblade like it was a regular sword, or katana as the Japanese called their swords. The mannequins all ran at her, raising their weapons and swing them forward at her.

Zoey let out a battle cry as she blocked the first strike and the battle was on. She ducked under a mannequin that tried to punch him and slashed its arms off with one slash. She charged and swung her Keyblade, slashing another mannequin across the chest and then spun to kick another that tried to sneak up on her in the chest. She then charged at a mannequin holding an axe and jumped up into the air, holding her Keyblade above her head.

She swung her blade down and cut the mannequin vertically in half. Zoey then jumped back, dodging arrows fired at her by two mannequins holding bows with arrows ready to hit her. Zoey quickly grabbed the keychain attached to the hilt of her weapon and used it in to spin her Keyblade expertly in her hands. She thrust her arm forward and sent her Keyblade flying like a boomerang that shot forward and sliced through both mannequins easily.

Zoey then spun around as a mannequin with a broadsword tried to attack her and held out her hand. In a flash of bright light her Keyblade reappeared back in her hand as she parried the broadsword easily. She gripped her Keyblade with both hands and pushed the broadsword away as she brought her foot up and kicked the mannequin in the chest, knocking it down and she finished it by slicing its head off so it wouldn't get up.

"Impressive." Grim commented, sounding genuinely impressed by how well Zoey was faring. "It seem all dat training is paying off."

"Indeed." Jack nodded with a smile.

Zoey easily finished off all the mannequins in the next five minutes and was gasping for breath with her Keyblade held in both hands. "Wow. That was a workout."

"Well done, Zoey." Jack clapped his hands. "You've come a long way and you have shown natural talent."

"Thanks." Zoey smiled as her Keyblade vanished. "It really seems so natural to me now. I wonder if it's because of my time on Total Drama."

"Regardless your progress has shown." Jack nodded.

"Thank you. So…is there a chance I can find my friends now?" Zoey asked hopefully.

"Cool your horses, child." Grim spoke up. "I've spoke to a few friends of mine and they said dat they'd look around but don't get your hope up. The universe is a big place."

"I know but won't stop." Zoey replied with a determined look on her face. "I won't stop until I find them and make sure they are safe."

"And you will have help." Jack replied. "But for now you have to rest…and prepare for school."

"Are you sure? I'm ready for more." Zoey said, eager for more training.

"I know but I have a job and you need time to rest. You will have a chance, Zoey but you must be patient." Jack explained.

"All right." Zoey sighed and walked back to Jack's apartment.

"She's eager." Grim noted.

"I know and she's becoming impatient. She wants to find her friends but if we cannot find them we cannot let her leave." Jack said with a small hint of sadness in his voice.

"Actually, speaking of that…" Grim started.

"You found them?"

"Found one, actually."

Xxx

**Madame Web's Realm**

Gwen wasn't sure how it all came to this.

She came to Total Drama All-Stars to make amends for the mistakes she made, try and patch things up with Courtney, and if it was possible win the million dollars. Things didn't go entirely as planned as Courtney stabbed her in the back and she still lost. On the bright side, she made some new friends that she could trust, she got even with both Heather and Courtney, ended it with Duncan for being a jealous, egotistical moron, and she finally managed to an end to Total Drama.

Or at least she thought it was over.

Next thing she knew she was off in some other dimension or world as Madame Web had called it being trained on how to use her weapon, her Keyblade. Even after all this time she wondered if she was still dreaming, back in Playa Des Losers and would wake up see nothing had changed. She would go home to see her mother and brother were still there. But it wasn't a dream and she knew it. So she did the only thing she could do.

She trained and looked for answers.

She found herself to be quite adept at using so-called magic, conjuring elemental spells with her Keyblade, healing spells, and a few more interesting forms of magic. She quickly learned that she favoured Blizzard, Aero and Reflect spells. Then she learned how to use her Keyblade in combat, learning the basic forms and stances to allow her to get a better understanding of her weapon.

Gwen had decent strength and speed but her main strength lied in her creativity, as she mixed her spells in with her physical attacks as she showed during her training when Madame Web summoned creatures to fight her. Her style was named 'Shooting Style' as she moved like a shooting star through the battlefield, attacking with spells from a distance and using a combination of magic and her Keyblade to disorientate the enemy up close before taking them out.

"You have certainly come a long way, young Gwendolyn." Madame Web remarked as Gwen sighed and sat down on a comfy chair.

"Now, I should let you know that a fellow Keyblade Master has contacted me. He has taken an apprentice of his own and I believe you should become better acquainted with other Keyblade bearers as they would have a few insights I might not be able to provide."

"Okay." Gwen shrugged, not sure what to feel.

"There is something else…" Madame Web continued. "I received a message that that it's possible someone you know has been found."

"Really?" Gwen sat up a bit straighter. "Who?"

"They would not say. They told me they were training 'her' because of the sudden spread of Heartless throughout the worlds. They believed she needs to better control her powers so the Heartless do not follow her wherever she goes." Madame Web answered.

"She…Zoey!" Gwen's eyes widened. "She's the only girl I know who has a Keyblade."

"Perhaps but I'll look into this. If it's true then you will have found one of your friends. In the meantime I suggest we move to see meet his acquaintance of mine." Madame Web waved a hand and both were engulfed in a burst of smoke.

Xxx

The world Madame Web was bringing Gwen to was known as the Land of Departure. It was supposedly like any other world but this was a more unique world. According to Madame Web this world was located in between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness. It was also the land in which Keyblade wielders learn how to wield their Keyblades by studying under a master. The current master and steward of the Land of Departure, Master Eraqus had received word from Madame Web that she was bringing a student she had temporarily taken on as an apprentice after she was rescued from a world consumed by Darkness by her and Clockwork.

Normally spirits like Clockwork would never interfere in the matters of the living but as the spirit of time Clockwork had a vital role to play in keeping the balance of the worlds. Madame Web herself was a powerful entity who gained a Keyblade but has long retired, even she remains as a constant advisor. The fact that she and Clockwork were involved was enough make Eraqus uneasy and accepted the idea of a second student.

He was meditating when a familiar smoke enveloped him. "Madame Web."

"Am I interrupting, Master Eraqus?" The voice of the woman he was speaking asked as she appeared before him with signature chair and table.

Eraqus noticed the young girl standing next to her. "Is this the young student you spoke of?"

"She is." Madame Web nodded.

"My name is Gwen." The girl stepped forward, slightly uneasy. "I guess I'm the new Keyblade student on the block."

"A pleasure, young Gwen." Eraqus nodded but looked back to Madame Web. "I remember you saying that your new student's world was destroyed by Heartless."

"It was." Madame Web nodded. "Through a small hint of luck and the assistance of Clockwork we managed to rescue young Gwen but the fact that the Heartless destroyed their world is troubling."

"Indeed." Eraqus closed her eyes. "For the last twenty years we have not heard of the Heartless wandering out of the Realm of Darkness and then I hear of this. How could they have become so strong without us knowing?"

"I can offer no answer to that question. What I do know is that aside from Gwen, two more denizens gained the Keyblade but were separated from her." Madame Web answered.

"Three Keyblade bearers on the same world? It is rare for there to be even two." Eraqus glanced at Gwen.

"My friends, Mike and Zoey." Gwen spoke up. "We all gained these Keyblades when we were in danger."

"Ah, yes. If someone has awakened the Keyblade within them then it is likely they would summon it if it sensed their wielders in danger." Eraqus nodded.

"I've come to ask if you would take young Gwen in until she is ready. The worlds are diverse and with the chance of the Heartless striking I need discover the source and I cannot fully train young Gwen with my attention divided."

"I understand." Eraqus nodded and looked at Gwen. "If you are open to this suggestion."

"I agreed to be trained so I could learn how to use my Keyblade to find my friends. So yeah, I agree. I'm ready to learn everything I can." Gwen answered, anxious to begin.

"Then, young Gwen I welcome you to the Land of Departure."

Xxx

"Jesus." Duncan commented.

"I know." Heather agreed.

Mike had just gone through another brutal beating from Mal during another training session that left Mike beaten and bruised.

"Poor chump just don't cut it." Lightning commented.

"Better him then me." Scott shrugged.

The door opened and Master Xehanort walked into the training room, glancing at the badly beaten Mike. "Hmm…"

"You must be getting a kick out of this. Watching Mal beat him down like this." Alejandro said when he noticed Xehanort.

"It is unfortunate that young Michael has to suffer like this. He managed to defeat the Darkness in his mind but now with Mal free he stands no chance. How unfortunate." Xehanort turned away. "I cannot train him like this with you and Mal."

"You're getting rid of him?" Courtney asked, slightly afraid of the answer. "That's a little harsh."

"Oh don't worry, he will live. Since they are not equal in strength they cannot aid in forming the prize I seek. If Michael is to be a heart of light I will need a Keyblade Master whose heart is steeped in light." Xehanort answered as he walked over to Mike and used a Cura spell to heal his wounds. "Perhaps it's time to meet an old friend."

Xxx

**Several Months Later**

Gwen had more or less settled into the Land of Departure, already making friends with Eraqus's other apprentice, a young man with brown hair and blue eyes named Terra. They got along with Gwen being a little shy but Terra was nice and welcomed her, offering his support to her for the loss of her world and his hate for the Heartless. His Keyblade, _Earthshaker_ was best suited for Earth style attacks while Gwen's Keyblade, _Heaven's Star_, was better suited at magic but Gwen was not weak at all. Terra's style revolved around his strength, Gwen's relied on her creativity and quick thinking.

They both had gotten to know each other during training and when they talked during breaks. Terra reminded Gwen of Trent and Duncan but Terra had no interest in music and while he liked fighting Terra never picked on anyone or ever said a bad thing about her when she told him of her life and the few mistakes she had made. Gwen learned that Terra never knew his parents, saying his world had been lost to Darkness like hers had been. He had been found by Master Eraqus who came upon his world and rescued him, taking him back to the Land or Departure which had been his home ever since.

The time she had spent here had not been so bad for someone in her situation. At least she was with people who understood her somewhat. Of course with her friendship to Terra and her blue streaked hair she was given the nickname 'Aqua'. Even if it wasn't her real name Gwen didn't get annoyed as it wasn't the worst nickname she had been given compared to the names given to her by Heather, Courtney, and a few others to say the least. Though she did wonder if the name was more appropriate for Bridgette since it was the Latin word for water.

So she didn't react negatively to the nickname and even let some people get away with calling her Aqua instead of correcting them. At least they weren't calling that to be insulting.

Suddenly the sounds of the great doors opening caught their attention, causing the two trainees to try and get a better look at what was happening. Two figures walked in, one was an old fragile old man with yellow eyes and pointed ears and the other was a young, but somewhat emotionless looking dark skinned boy with dark somewhat spiky hair, dressed in a green shirt and blue pants with white sneakers. As the old man and Eraqus started to go to another location, so they could begin their discussion in full, they left the boy behind.

"Mike, is that you?" Gwen looked at the emotionless boy. "Mike!"

"Is he your friend?" Terra asked as he followed Gwen downstairs.

"Yeah," Gwen said as she walked up to Mike. "Mike, am I so glad to see you!"

She quickly grabbed him in a hug but for some reason Mike didn't hug her back and didn't even smile at her. Instead Mike let out scream caused her and both to jump in surprise.

"Mike, what's wrong?" Gwen asked worriedly as Mike fell to his knees, grasping his head.

"What's going on?" Terra asked, wondering what made Mike scream.

"Terra, this is Mike. He was one my friends who got a Keyblade like I told you about. What happened to him?" Gwen asked anxiously.

She didn't know what she was meant to do in this situation, the only thing that she could think of was to hold her friend protectively, to try and make sure that he was all right but she didn't want to make him scream again.

"We were just asking him some questions, and…" Terra grimaced, wondering what he did wrong, and what he did to cause such a reaction from Mike.

"Michael cannot tell you anything…" Eraqus interrupted their conversation, as he, along with Xehanort, made their way towards the group of three.

"It is because he cannot remember anything." Gwen glanced towards Xehanort, as he cradled the young boy.

There was something not quite right about whatever was going on but she didn't know what to do. All she could think of was to stay close to Mike and keep him safe, for him and Zoey. Later Mike was in a room provided by Eraqus with Gwen sitting next to him.

"Mike, what happened to you?" Gwen whispered as she softly grasped Mike's hand. "Do you remember anything? Do you remember me, or Cameron, or even Zoey?"

He was asleep so he could not answer but Gwen felt like she already knew the answer.

"If you've lost your memories then…I'll help you. I'll protect you, like I'll find and protect Cameron and Zoey. I'll bring us all back together and we can find a way…to make things right again." Gwen closed her eyes as a tear fell out. "Just hang on, Mike…I'm working night and day…I know Cameron and Zoey are fine. Just hang on."

They were all she had left now.

She couldn't let them fade like her world did along with her home and family. She wouldn't let anyone down ever again.

"I'll become a Keyblade Master and spend the rest of my life looking for them if I have to." Gwen declared. "I promise you, Mike."

As Mike slumbered he dreamed of an island, surrounded by a bunch of people all smiling at him. He smiled back and walked up to the red haired girl smiling at him.

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report XI**

_Michael and Mal were not matched in power; I could not train them together, or Mal's darkness would gnaw away what little Michael had left._

_Of course, since I needed a place where the boy's light might flourish, the answer was obvious: Eraqus, and his absolutes._

_Considering how we had parted ways, I expected friction—but if anything, Eraqus seemed delighted to see me again. He readily agreed to take care of Michael. Now I need only wait for the boy's heart to get stronger._

_I had not visited this second home of mine for some time, and discovered Eraqus had already found two pupils of his own. Within one of them, Terra, I sensed something. The boy, though well-intentioned, seeks power single-mindedly. And that kind of hunger is a seedbed for darkness._

_I had found my vessel._

Xxx

"What?! Gwen is there, training with that guy you mentioned and she has a Keyblade?!" Heather exclaimed upon hearing Xehanort's tale.

"Ah, so Gwen made it too." Chris chuckled at the shock on the group's faces. "That's two down. Now to find Zoey."

"Young Gwendolyn has made progress since the loss of her world. She was clearly trained by another master, possibly Madame Web who no doubt sensed the Heartless devouring that world." Xehanort surmised. "She's taken the role of Michael's protector."

"And you had something to do with her getting a Keyblade, didn't you?" Courtney accused.

"I gave her the strength she needed to awaken the power within herself, nothing more. Everything else that happened was of her own choice." Xehanort calmly answered as he turned away.

"Bull crap." Duncan muttered.

"You set her up like you did with us and Mike. You plan for us to fight her don't you?" Heather accused.

"And you have a problem with that? You all have your own rivalry with her, Michael, and Zoey." Xehanort answered. "Courtney, Duncan, she turned her back on the both of you and left you to be humiliated and imprisoned. Heather, Alejandro, she impeded your own attempts to win. Scott, she helped eliminate Courtney. Jo, Lightning, she helped eliminate the both of you to get you out of the way. What does it matter to you?"

"Hey, it's her problem is she doesn't want me?" Duncan shrugged, even though inside he was annoyed how she dumped him.

"Speak for yourself." Heather scowled, her old hate for Gwen resurfacing. "I've been waiting for a chance to finally get back at her."

"You want us to take her out?" Jo asked, not really caring.

"Nothing yet. At the moment she's no threat but she might indeed become one if she reunites all three together." Xehanort answered.

"Leave it to Lightning. He'll SHA-BAMN her in a second." Lightning answered with a grin, always like the chance to show off.

"Just let her deal with Mike. She won't bother us." Courtney shrugged, though on the inside she was hurt and angry at how Gwen left her to be kicked off and flushed down the Flush of Shame. "I try to make nice with her and she stabbed me in the back, again."

"I am not one to hold petty grudges but I will only react if she threatens the plan." Alejandro shrugged, not really feeling any hate towards Gwen.

"That's fine. She'll run for the hills she sees me." Scott flexed his muscles.

"Or smells him." Duncan whispered which got him an elbow from Courtney.

"Gwendolyn is of no threat. In fact she will be needed for the next stage of the plan." Xehanort looked at the screen showing Mal. "Ah, he's learning."

Everyone frowned as they watched Mal as he destroyed another shadow creature. At first they all thought these creatures were Heartless but Xehanort called them the Unversed, monsters created by his negative feelings. Every time he killed one he became stronger as he absorbed their emotions, making him scream out as he absorbed each creature.

"This is wrong, even for Chris." Heather muttered.

"Hey, it's not my fault he likes doing that." Chris shrugged.

"But you won't stop filming it." Duncan shuddered and looked at Xehanort. "Listening to that guy killing those guys and screaming all the time. You've really screwed his mind up."

"If you feel the need to end his torment by all means I invite you to try." Xehanort replied, smirking at Duncan as a blanched and stepped back.

Xxx

A low hissing sound echoed through the dark cavern.

The creature that had found itself here wandered through the cave, growling, hissing, and groaning as it looked for food. It dragged itself through the cavern, dropping saliva from its mouth, hunched forward and eyes that were bloodshot red and hollow. Teeth jagged and dirty looking with its skin pale green, long stringing hair falling down the side of its bald head and liver spots all over its deformed body.

The poor creature had crept through the darkness for so long it no longer knew why it was there.

It just wanted to sleep.

"To think someone could be reduced to such a pitiful state."

It jumped up and growled at the intruder that entered its territory. Is being left alone too much to ask for?

"Is this all you have left? Nothing left to keep you going." The intruder asked rhetorically.

It snarled as waved a hand with long nails at the intruder to scare him away.

"Don't try such theatrics against me." The man stepped forward. "You, creature who sacrificed everything shall be a given a chance to gain all you want."

It finally had enough as he let out a howl as it leapt at the intruder with hands and teeth ready to rip the intruder to pieces.

However the intruder simply raised his hand and it felt the cool sensation of Darkness surrounding it before it fell into a dreamless sleep.

Xxx

**Xehanort's Report XII**

_The time has come. I have received word from Eraqus that his pupils are to become true Keyblade Masters. Terra and young Gwendolyn... _

_They will be easy now to lure into the outside world. But Michael! I will get nowhere without him._

_Mal can feel some of what Michael feels and he says Terra is the key. Mike has loved like a real brother ever since he let him keep his old wooden Keyblade and he has loved Gwen like a true sister ever since the girl found him, always staying close to him and helping him with almost anything. Constantly telling him stories of their life on their destroyed world and his time with the girl known as Zoey._

_Fortunately he seems to be still unable to fully remember his past which makes things easier for my plans. It seems we have found a loose thread at which we can tug to unravel Michael's heart._

_The first step is to get Terra alone; then we need to plant the seeds of doubt in Michael. Let him carry his faint light as he chases his brother into the darkness and then Gwen will chase after him to protect as a true overprotective sister. _

_As for Zoey, the Guardian will soon leave the world she is staying on to find her friends which what will be needed to keep the light in Michael's heart strong enough for the final phase of the plan._

_Let the darkness make his light stronger, then let the light deepen the darkness. And where the two finally meet is where the stuff of legends will become real._


	5. Mark of Mastery Exam

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

**Present  
Two Years After Total Drama All-Stars  
Land of Departure**

Mike sighed as he looked around the room that had been his for over two years now since he first arrived here. He tried to sleep but his mind was too distracted for sleep at the moment. He leaned up from his bed and turned to the window, looking at the night sky. He wore a green high collared black shirt with a grey vest with green and blue armor over his chest. He had pants that were a mix of grey, black, and white with black and silver shoes on his feet.

On his left shoulder was a green and blue piece of arm covering his shoulder and upper left arm and he wore a wrist band that was yellow, red, green and blue on his left wrist. He sighed again but his eyes caught movement in the sky. As he looked more intently he spotted moving lights through the night sky.

"A meteor shower!" Mike exclaimed in excitement.

He jumped off his bed and ran out the door, rushing out of the dorms and out of the castle, onto a platform outside the entrance.

He stopped when he saw the archway would block his view of the sky. "I can't see much from here."

He took off running again, running down the path leading to the training ground where large gold medallions hung from several golden ornaments or wooden poles.

'Looks like Terra forgot to clean up around here.' Mike took a look around the training grounds. "I have time to spare."

He summoned Keyblade and started practicing with it, remembering his lessons with his friends. He slashed through the air for several minutes, hitting the golden medallions with a few combo moves he had picked up. He turned and stopped when he saw a few small boulders that led up to the path he was planning to take.

"Wait, what am I messing around for?" He smacked himself on the head. "I'm going to miss the meteor shower!"

He hopped up the boulders and landed on top of the hill and ran through a pond leading to a cliff that overlooked the place he had called home for a year with a bench meant for him to sit down on. He walked over to the edge and looked up at the sky.

"Wow." He marvelled at the shooting lights in the sky.

He didn't know when he did it but soon enough he was on the ground with his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky with a content look on his face.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" Mike wondered to himself.

He remembered looking up at the sky once, looking exactly like this and he could see images of people and voices that felt familiar. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling content as all turned black. He then sat up, wondering if he should go back to his room as he felt like he was going to fall asleep right here. But when he looked at the sky he simply yawned and lied back down.

That was when a face came into view, hovering over him with a curious look.

"Whoa!" Mike exclaimed as he sat up.

The person giggled as Mike turned and faced them. "Gimme a break, Gwen."

Gwen's wardrobe had changed since it wouldn't do for her to be wearing her old clothes there were no good for combat or traveling. She now wore a black and dark blue high collared halter top and a new black corset with white laces while her back was exposed, black bicycle shorts as she soon realized wearing a short skirt was not a good idea when training to be a warrior but wore a blue cloth draped over her hips along with two white cloths tied over her waist and draped in the same manner, black boots with steel toed armor and leggings that went up to her thighs and showed a bit of skin. On her arms were black fingerless gloves and dark blue bell shaped sleeves over them that went up to her forearms covered by pieces of armor. Her hair had grown slightly, but only reached down to her neck that mostly parted to her left and she wondered when she would get the chance to get a haircut.

She had two pink straps intersecting over her chest with a silver badge that showed her status as a Keyblade Apprentice.

"Mike, you hopeless sleepyhead." Gwen commented as she shook her head. "You could have at least brought a blanket."

Gwen was always somewhere nearby, looking out for him and acting like an overprotective older sister which Mike didn't mind at times.

"But…Did I really dream that place up?" Mike wondered as he looked down at the ground. "It really felt like I had been there before, looking up at the stars…"

Gwen sighed and rubbed a hand through his head. "Those dreams again? Still having trouble remembering our home and friends?"

"Yeah…" Mike said, feeling a little guilty.

Gwen saw the look on his face and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. It'll come back, I'm sure of it."

"I know." Mike smiled back as he walked over the edge.

Gwen followed him over and they both sat down on the edge, looking up at the stars.

"Hey, Gwen?" Mike asked.

"Hm?" Gwen looked over at Mike.

"You ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?" Mike asked.

"Well…" Gwen started, unsure how to answer. "Where we came from we learned stars were balls of fire, one that allowed us to live on our world. Flaming lights made of gas that lit up the universe but ever since coming here there are others who say…"

"That every star up there is another world." A voice behind them finished.

Mike and Gwen looked to see the person who spoke.

"Terra." Mike said as Gwen smiled.

"Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own." Terra commented as he walked over. "The light is their hearts and it's shining down on us a million lanterns."

"What? I don't get it." Mike said, confused by what Terra said.

"In other words they're just like you, Mike." Terra smiled.

"What does _that_ mean?" Mike asked as he got up and walked to Terra.

"You'll find out someday, I'm sure." Terra replied, not giving away anything.

"Come on. I wanna know now." Mike said impatiently.

"You're too young to know now." Terra said calmly at Mike's stubbornness.

"Quit treating me like a kid."

Gwen could only smile and giggle at the argument.

"What are you laughing at?" Terra looked at Gwen.

"I can't help it. You two would make the weirdest brothers." Gwen answered, laughing at their confused looks.

"Huh?"

Gwen however kept on laughing which soon made both boys laugh with her. The laughter faded a moment later as they calmed down and simply gazed at the stars.

"Oh right." Gwen suddenly realized something and stood up. "Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery Exam tomorrow." She reached into her sleeves and pulled three necklaces with a star attached to them. "I made us some good luck charms."

One star was orange, the other green, and the one Gwen kept was blue like the color of her hair. She tossed the bronze one at Terra and the green one at Mike.

"I get one too?" Mike asked as he looked at his charm.

"Of course. One for each of us." Gwen produced two more, one colored red and the other yellow. "I even made two more for our missing friends."

"You mean…The girl Zoey and the little guy, Cameron?" Mike asked.

"Yeah. I know we'll meet again someday." Gwen nodded as she looked up at the sky. "Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star shaped fruit and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other."

Gwen had come a long way since the girl who was careful about who she let into her life back on Total Drama Island. As much as losing her world still hurt her she reached out and kept a hold on the few good things left like the believe of her friends still alive and her new friends that managed to keep her smiling and give her hope that one day she could find everyone she lost.

"Technically I think you're supposed to make them with seashells but I worked best with what I had." Gwen chuckled.

"Oy, sometimes you are such a girl." Terra commented with a sigh.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" Gwen narrowed one eye. "Can't for once I act like I'm happy and put on a smile without you saying it's all weird?"

"So this isn't a real good luck charm?" Mike suddenly seemed saddened.

"Well…that's yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic into it." Gwen answered.

"Really? What?" Mike asked eagerly.

Gwen smiled as she held up her charm. "An unbreakable connection."

Terra shook his head as he walked past Gwen. "Well, tomorrow's the exam. Anyone wanna spar?"

Mike grinned eagerly as he summoned his Keyblade. "I can take you."

Gwen sighed as she took a seat as the two prepared to fight. Mike started the spar by charging forward and launching a quick slash. Terra easily lifted his Keyblade up and deflected the attack and then blocked several more attacks as Mike tried to break through his guard before launching fast strikes of his own, causing Mike to yelp and step back. It was known by all three that Terra was the physically strongest of the apprentices.

Mike was started to get tired but there was no way he was going to lose. "Quite going easy on me! You're not gonna win unless you're on the offensive!"

Terra shrugged and did as Mike said; launching a few quick slashes that left Mike panting as the two stepped back from each other.

"Well that works fine if you're fighting one on one." Gwen stepped in between the two. "But you need to handle a crowd too."

She summoned her Keyblade as she settled into her stance, standing straight with her Keyblade at her side as Mike prepared himself by twirling his Keyblade in his hands. Mile charged forward but Gwen held her Keyblade up and pointed it at Mike, releasing a barrage of shooting stars that hit Mike and knocked him back but thankfully didn't him. Gwen jumped forward and launched a series of quick strikes at Mike that sent him staggering back as he frantically tried to block each strike. Despite his own skills Gwen was ahead of him in skills and magic, using mana to increase her speed to make it almost impossible to keep up.

Mike watched as she shot off her feet, moving like a literal shooting star was that was unstoppable when in a fight.

"Let's wrap this up!" Terra said as he leapt in between the two.

With that said Terra turned to Gwen, deciding it her turn and charged at her. Gwen pointed her Keyblade at Terra, releasing a blast of ice from the tip of her blade. Terra blocked with his Keyblade, sliding back only a few inches and leapt Gwen before she could attack again. Gwen cart wheeled out of the way, avoiding Terra's slash.

'Who'd have thought I'd be taking gymnastics but it really paid off.' Gwen thought as she landed back on her feet.

She quickly launched several quick slashes at Terra who blocked them all and retaliated with his own combos. Terra had more strength than Gwen which forced her back and made her cart wheel again to avoid another powerful slash. Gwen fired a fire ball from her Keyblade but Terra's Keyblade created a barrier that sent it flying back to her, making duck to avoid getting burned.

"It comes with experience." Terra said confidently.

"Wow." Mike sighed in relief as his Keyblade vanished. "Trust me, you guys are ready. You're gonna clean up the exam tomorrow."

"I hope it's easy." Terra said as they stood together.

"I'm not the best motivation speaker in the world but I remember what Master Eraqus said. Power is born within the heart. When the time is right, you just have to look inside yourself and you'll find it there." Gwen held a hand over where her heart was.

Mike took one last look at the stars, once again wondering why it seemed so familiar.

"Hey, we're going back." Terra broke him out of his trance as he and Gwen turned to leave.

"Oh, sorry. I'm coming!" Mike said as he chased after them.

Gwen stopped and looked up, seeing the last meteor in the sky. She pulled out her good luck charm along with the other two she kept.

"Together...Always." Gwen whispered. "The same goes for you…Cam…Zoey."

She put them away and rushed after her two friends.

Little did they know was that this night would be the last time they would gaze at the stars together.

Xxx

Zoey had more or less settled in Megaville despite her wish to leave and look for her friends but Sensei Jack had asked her to be patient as she was making progress.

In the meantime Zoey was left with dealing with every day activities, like going to school and making sure she got a decent education. Zoey sighed as she finished putting on the school uniform that she was required to wear at Megaville High School which consisted of a white shirt with a blue striped tie and black blazer, pleated skirt, navy blue socks and black shoes. Her hair had grown slightly longer and it was no longer in pig tails but she kept the signature flower in her hair.

'It's been two years now since I was separated from my friends when our world was lost to darkness. I woke in this world, finding myself in a city called Megaville that was known as the City of Heroes. The reason why it's called that is because literally is a city with real super heroes that have super powers. I never would have believed it if not for my own encounter with these heroes. There are a little too many to count.' Zoey thought back to the people she had met.

As she walked down the street she looked up and saw three lights traveling above the city. One was pink, one was blue, and the last one was green. Those three were just one of many superheroes that lived in this city. She would have liked to have met them along with any other super heroes but Sensei Jack made her promise to keep her status as a Keyblade wielder secret. There were too many villains out there that would love to get their hands on a real Keyblade and use it for their own desires.

Grim told her that the Keyblade had the power to save or destroy entire world by unlocking the world's Heart and opening it to Darkness. Zoey could only sigh sadly as she continued walking to the High School, deciding that today was simply another day to spend with the few friends she had made here. It was a little refreshing to live out the annoying fame that came from Total Drama.

'There are even heroes younger than me which is surprising to say the least. I didn't think a world like this could exist, actually I never thought any worlds besides my own did exist. Cam would love to see how things worked around here. It's pretty much what one could expect living in a city full of super heroes. There are bad guys and the heroes catch them, even Sensei Jack is a hero from the way he took down several villains and made it look so easy.' Zoey smiled. 'It's mostly peaceful around here and yet…' Zoey sighed sadly. 'I haven't been able to leave this world and go out to search for my remaining friends. I've made a lot of progress in learning how to use my Keyblade but…I wonder when it will be time for me to leave and find them.'

'_Together...Always_.'

Zoey stopped when she heard a voice. "Gwen?"

'_Zoey_.'

Zoey thought she was only hearing something she wanted to hear but she hoped with all of her heart that it was a sign.

She smiled as she held a hand to her heart. "Together."

Little did Zoey know was that she was being watched as she continued her journey with a happy smile on her face.

Xxx

"This is the Keyblade's chosen?" A young voice asked.

"Yes." An older voice answered, sounding intelligent and eloquent. "She is the one chosen to wield the Keyblade."

"Doesn't look like much." Another voice, sounding high pitched scoffed. "How can a weapon as powerful as the Keyblade choose a human as weak as her?"

"Anyone who possesses the Keyblade is gifted with a power to unlock the greatest power in the universe." The eloquent voice replied. "This girl could indeed become more powerful than any hero or villain in the city."

"And remember, the Master wants her alive." A dark cloaked figure said behind them. "Without her the plan is useless."

"I remember the plan and I assure you that we will follow our instructions."

Xxx

Cameron sighed as he stood on the beach of the island he had found himself on.

Destiny Islands.

Not a bad name for a few islands in the middle of an ocean that had no end. The people here were very friendly and seemed content but sadly that could not be said for the newest resident on the island. Cameron could only wonder if anything lied beyond the sea or was this the single mass of land in the entire world?

'Mike, Zoey, Gwen, are you guys still out there? Or am I the only one left? This world, it's not bad but I have no idea what to do. There's nothing logical about this.' Cameron thought. 'Is there anything I _can_ do or am I doomed to be stuck here?'

'_Together...Always_.'

Cameron gasped as he looked around, hearing a familiar voice. "Gwen?"

'_Cam_.'

There was no logical or rational explanation but Cameron suddenly felt better as he smiled. "Yeah. Together."

"Cam! Come on! It's dinner time!" A young voice called out.

"Coming Sora!" Cameron turned and ran towards the house.

But he stopped and looked at the sun as it went down, smiling one last time.

Xxx

"Coming to you all from the World That Never Was is Total Drama Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep! I'm your host Chris McLane and I'm bringing you the most spectacular show to ever exist. Our season will take place across multiple worlds as our contestants fight each other for the ultimate prize: the power to change entire World AKA the Universe!" Chris announced as multiple screens brightened the room behind him. "Just like last season we have returning contestants split up into two teams that will compete against each other and even pick up other contestants as they travel through the worlds. We have one team, the Dark Hedgehogs!"

A medallion with a black hedgehog on it appeared on one screen with images of the Villainous Vultures except for Gwen appearing under it.

"All our big villains who will be representing the Darkness that will either be defeated or reach out and cover all worlds in a never ending reign of Darkness!"

The screen showed worlds being engulfed in black substances and vanishing, never to be seen again.

"We have the charming and oh-so handsome Alejandro."

Alejandro appeared on the screen.

"The Queen of Mean and ever so bossy Heather."

Heather appeared next to Alejandro.

"The Jock who takes no prisoners, Jo."

Jo appeared next.

"The Overachieving Moron, Lightning!"

Lightning's picture came next.

"The Devious Rat, Scott."

Scott appeared with crude drawings of rat ears on his head and a tail coming out of his back.

"The Delinquent who likes destroying people's cottages to prove he's not a sissy, Duncan!"

Duncan was next and he had a beak drawn on his face.

"No good property destroying-Next we have the Crazy In Training who doesn't take no for answer and no friends to finales, Courtney."

Courtney appeared on the screen.

"And the leader, the Man with the Evil Heart, Mal."

Mal in his black and red suit replaced the pictures of the rest of the team.

"And the Light Turtles." Chris continued.

A medallion with a golden turtle appeared on another screen with images of Mike, Zoey, and Gwen appearing under it.

"The Warrior, Mike."

Mike's image enlarged itself to show his face.

"The Guardian, Zoey."

Zoey replaced Mike.

"And the Mystic, Gwen."

Gwen was the last of the Light Turtles to appear.

"Each team wields their own Keyblade and will be traveling across worlds, battling each other in the race to form the ultimate weapon: the X-blade. The one who forms the X-blade not only wins Total Drama Kingdom Hearts but will be able to reach the land of Kingdom Hearts and become the greatest being in the World. There will be action, drama, fighting, betrayal, and lots _and_ lots of pain!" Chris chuckled eagerly. "Who will be the first to go down? What will our teams face in the challenges ahead? Find out next time on Total Drama: Birth by Sleep!"

Xxx

Madame Web stared into her crystal ball, staring into the gray fog that was forming inside, waiting for it to take shape. Running a hand a through her gray hair she sighed as she becoming impatient with what whatever image that was refusing to form and show her what the future held for the worlds.

She remembered how the Heartless destroyed a random world in the Realm of Light, somehow appearing without warning before anything could be done to stop them and with the help of Clockwork she rescued one of three Keyblade wielders and trained her a bit before leaving her with Eraqus when she sensed something was happening. Something like this had never happened in all her time of watching the worlds which was unnerving to say the least.

'Something lies beyond my sight that can show me the answers.' Madame Web thought.

She heard a door opening and saw her apprentice walking into the room. "Eh, what's up Master?"

"Something is happening beyond the horizon. I cannot help but feel something horrible is about to transpire." Madame Web answered calmly.

"Hm?" The apprentice tilted his head to the side.

Madame Web looked down into the crystal ball and saw five lights appearing in the center of the grey mist.

Orange, yellow, red, blue, and green lights shining brightly in the dark.

Xxx

Gwen stood next to Terra in the center of the room with two men, two Keyblade Masters inspecting them from two of the three thrones in the great hall. Mike stood off to the side of the room, watching eagerly to see his friends pass. Gwen had to suppress a grimace as she laid her eyes on Master Xehanort again, remembering him as the man who brought Mike to the castle. Call it paranoia but for some reason Gwen never trusted Xehanort and found something to be wrong about him.

Either she was just placing misplaced blame on him for Mike's condition when he arrived along with his memory loss or perhaps her experience with manipulative people like Heather, Justin, and Alejandro was screaming at her that Xehanort was no different. Either way she didn't like the way his yellow eyes seemed to probe her and Terra or when Mike flinched when Xehanort frowned when seeing him and unfortunately Master Eraqus didn't seem to notice.

"Today, you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery. Not one but two of the Keyblade's chosen stand here as candidates, but this is neither a competition nor a battle for supremacy, not a test of the heart. Both of you may prevail or neither. I am sure our guest, Master Xehanort," The old man smiled and bowed his head in greetings when he was addressed. "Did not travel all this way to see our youngest prospects in years fall short of the Mark." Eraqus threw a respectful glance at his fellow master before looking back at the two students. "I trust you are ready?"

"Yes." Both answered honestly and eagerly.

"Then let the examination begin." Eraqus lifted his Keyblade and five orbs of light emerged from the end of the blade.

Gwen and Terra summoned their Keyblades and slipped into their fighting positions. Master Xehanort flexed one hand as he grinned. The orbs were suddenly surrounded by darkness that shocked everyone watching. Eraqus stepped back while Terra and Gwen gasped from the sudden change. However they shook their shock off and charged forward anyways. Mike was watching until he noticed one of the orbs flying towards him.

"Mike!" Gwen shouted when she noticed the orb attacking Mike.

Mike quickly summoned his Keyblade and slashed at it, taking it out in one hit. "Don't' worry about me! You two focus on the exam!"

"You're in danger, Mike! Go back and hide in your room!" Gwen called out, being overprotective of him again.

"No way!" Mike shook his head. "I've been looking forward to this. Seeing you two become masters! I'm not going to miss it now!"

"He can take care of himself. He's been out there, training as hard as us." Terra said as he and Gwen stood back to back with each other, watching the orbs.

"Yeah!" Mike agreed.

Gwen was still hesitant but nodded. "Stay sharp, Mike."

Confident that Mike could take care of himself Gwen and Terra started attacking the orbs. Terra attacked head on, slashing away at the orbs while Gwen pumped mana into her legs, allowing her to jump and land on top of the orbs so she could stab them. She jumped off one orb and landed perfectly on her feet before slashing at another while watching as Mike attacked the orbs surrounding him with fast paced combos even more orbs kept on appearing.

'What's going on? Master Eraqus isn't doing this.' Gwen glanced at Xehanort who watched them calmly. 'Did he do something?'

Gwen shook it off and continued destroying the orbs until they were all gone. Gwen and Terra quickly moved back to the center while Mike went back to the as Eraqus stepped forward.

"That was unexpected but one must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances." Master Eraqus said as he stopped in front of them. "It was an excellent test, one I chose to let unfold. Which brings us to your next trial. Now, Terra and Gwen, the two of you will face each other in combat. Remember, there are no winners, only truths, for when equal powers clash, their nature is revealed."

Gwen and Terra stepped back faced each other, settling into their stances. Gwen was ready for this, she'd be training ever since she promised Mike when he came here that she would become a Keyblade Master and find their friends. Terra had trained hard for this as well and he planned to become a Master and make Eraqus proud of him.

"Begin!" Eraqus announced.

With that one word, Gwen and Terra charged and their Keyblades clashed together and then broke apart before attacking each other again. Both demonstrated great speed and agility but it was obvious to the onlookers that Terra's blows were stronger as he pushed Gwen back but she was faster as she somersaulted backwards to avoid a powerful slash, and then jumped back avoid another, and then ducked as Terra's third slash sailed over her head. Gwen finally went on the offensive as she slashed at Terra which made him step back and jumped forward as she pushed Terra back. Terra stepped back and gasped as Gwen's Keyblade missed his nose by mere inches.

Terra jumped back and gasped for breath while Gwen kept herself in a ready stance. Terra looked up and saw Gwen running towards him. Terra gasped and held out his left hand as it was suddenly engulfed with black flames.

Eraqus raised one eyebrow. 'Is that-'

'Darkness?' Terra looked down at his hand as the Darkness vanished and back up as Gwen jumped and clashed her blade with his.

Xehanort grinned as he watched the spectacle.

'Wow.' Mike thought as he watched in awe.

Terra slashed again which Gwen avoided by jumping back and retaliated by jumping forward and sliding her foot to Terra's to knock him off balance. Terra jumped over her and when he landed on his feet he spun to attack but Gwen was too quick and avoided the attack.

"Enough!" Eraqus stood up.

Instantly the two stopped and they Keyblades vanished as Eraqus stepped forward with Xehanort standing next to him.

"We have deliberated and reached a decision. Terra, Gwen, you both preformed commendably." Eraqus announced. "However, only Gwen has shown the Mark of Mastery."

Terra looked shocked and a little hurt while Gwen looked surprised, a little happy, and a little sad as she looked at Terra.

"Terra, you failed to keep the Darkness within you sufficiently in check." Eraqus continued, a hint of regret in his voice. "But there is always next time. That is all. Gwen, as our newest Keyblade Master, you are entitled to certain knowledge. Please wait here for further instruction."

Gwen and Terra watched as Eraqus followed Xehanort out of the room. That was the last thing on Gwen's mind as she turned to Terra, noticing the look on his face. "Hey…"

Mike ran up to them with a sad look on his face. "Terra, I'm so sorry."

"The Darkness…Where did it come from?" Terra whispered as he looked down at the guard, unable to understand and started walking away. "Sorry, but I need some time alone."

Gwen and Mike could only look on sadly as their friend left.

Xxx

Master Xehanort walked down a dark hall with his back hunched and his arms folded behind his back as usual.

He walked down the stairs and stopped as he looked to someone hiding in the darkness. "What do you make of Michael?"

"He ain't gonna cut it." The man said, holding his black and silver helmet. "Someone's gotta break that loser in."

Master Xehanort turned away. "Not here you won't. I have to keep up appearances."

"I know that." The man grumbled as he put his helmet back on. "He just needs a little incentive to leave home."

The man followed Master Xehanort down the stairs, vanishing into the shadows.

Xxx

Terra sat down at the bottom of the stairs of the entrance to the castle, still disappointed in what happened at the end of the exam. "There's Darkness within me. So what does that matter? I know I'm strong enough to hold it back."

"Yes, you are indeed strong." Terra stood up and spun around to see the man who had spoken standing at the top of the stairs. "The Darkness is nothing to fear."

"Master Xehanort…" Terra said, wondering why he was here.

"And yet…how frustrating that Eraqus refutes its power." Master Xehanort said as he walked down the stairs. "Why, you could train with him forever and still you'd never be a master in his eyes."

"But why?" Terra asked anxiously. "Help me understand, Master Xehanort. What is it I failed to learn?"

"You are fine as you are." Master Xehanort walked past Terra. "Darkness cannot be destroyed. It can only be channeled."

"Yes." Terra straightened himself and bowed. "Thank you, Master."

The sound of bells ringing caught Terra's attention and he quickly ran back into the castle. With his back turned he didn't Master Xehanort vanish into a portal of darkness.

Xxx

Mike swung his wooden Keyblade back and forth as he lied back on his bed. He stopped swing and looked up at his wooden sword and sighed sadly.

'Poor Terra. The dude has what it takes. I know it, Gwen knows, and even Eraqus knows it so why-'

RING!

Mike sat up as he heard bells ringing that meant something was wrong inside the school. He got up and ran to the door but before he left something stopped him.

"Better hurry, Mike."

"Huh?!" Mike spun around to see someone in his room, leaning against his desk. "Who are you?"

The person wore a red and black suit with a smooth black glass helmet that covered his face.

"Or you'll never see Terra again." The stranger continued.

"What? Get real. I can see Terra anytime I want." Mike retorted.

"Like right now?" The man said, sounding like he didn't believe Mike. "Terra's leaving you behind. And by the time you catch up to him he'll be a different person."

Mike held out his wooden Keyblade. "Look whoever you are you don't know the first thing about Terra. Me and him will always be a team. You trying to pick a fight or what?!"

"Oh grow up." The man snorted as he stood up and walked to the other end of the room. "Is that what you call friendship? You'll never know the truth unless you look at it yourself. Come on, what could you possibly know when you're stuck in here, looking at nothing but what's in your tiny world?"

In front of the man appeared a portal of Darkness that he vanished into, leaving Mike to ponder his words. He thought of the friendship he had Terra ever since he had come here.

_Terra helping him train with his Keyblade_

_Scolding him for doing something stupid, and then apologising when he saw how sad Mike looked,_

_Him and Terra laughing over some joke_

"Terra!" Mike said as he ran out of the room.

Xxx

'I did it. I'm a Master now.' Gwen thought as she listened to Eraqus. 'I'm finally a Master now. I'm just one step closer now.'

She felt sad though that Terra didn't become a Master but she knew he would get a chance. Frankly she thought Eraqus was being a little unfair with Terra as the Darkness didn't do anything to hurt her and he managed to hold it back. She thought back to the old man, Master Xehanort and those feelings of unease made themselves know to her again.

'What was with that guy? The way he looked at Mike and the way Mike flinched. What did that old man do to him?' Gwen frowned. 'Why do I get the feeling something's happening out there? I just hope…No, I know I will find Zoey and Cam and bring them to help Mike.'

"And in so much as you are now Keyblade Master, you must always be conscious of-"

The sound of bells ringing cut Eraqus off and caused Gwen to gasp in alarm as she was shaken from her thoughts. Behind the third throne a stone began glowing brightly.

"What is that?" Eraqus asked as he walked to the stone.

Gwen heard grunting and footsteps and looked over to see Terra running up to her. "What happened?"

"I don't know." Gwen answered with a confused look on her face. "Why isn't Mike here?"

"Very well then," Eraqus said to the stone, apparently having a conversation with it. "I will send my pupils to investigate. Yes, I understand. Farewell." The stone stopped glowing and Eraqus turned to approach his two students. "That was my dear old friend, Madame Web."

Gwen looked up when she heard the name of the woman who had rescued her and trained her for a while before leaving her with Eraqus.

"As you know she is a Master no more but she still keeps a close eye on the tides of Light and Darkness. Her counsel serves as signposts, on the road we wielders of the Keyblade must walk. All the more reason for concern then, for she tells me the Princesses of Heart are in danger."

Both Keyblade wielders knew of the Princesses of Heart as they had learned about them from their studies. Supposedly to be a Princess of Heart it meant that the Heart of a woman had absolutely no Darkness within them at all, completely incorruptible.

"Not only from the dangers of Darkness, as you may assume, but also from a new threat, one that feeds on negativety. Fledgling emotions that have taken monster form, Madame Wed calls them the Unversed." Eraqus paused for a moment. "As wielders of the Keyblade you are tasked with striking down any who upset the balance of Light and Darkness. The Unversed are no exception. I tried to pass this new information onto Master Xehanort, but my repeated attempts to reach him have failed. I doubt there is any connection and yet…This all troubles me."

"Master Xehanort is…gone?" Terra asked, having just talked to Xehanort.

Gwen glanced at Terra, hearing him speak and wondered what they talked about.

Eraqus nodded. "So here we are. I need you two to get this situation under control. Eliminate the Unversed and find Master Xehanort. I have unlocked the Lanes Between. You may use these forbidden pathways to travel between this world and countless others. The Darkness looms ever closer than usual in these places but your armor will protect you. Lastly remember that order must be kept. You cannot tell anyone there are other worlds. Now go and fulfill your duty."

"Yes Master." Terra and Gwen said in unison, standing perfectly straight.

As Terra turned to leave Eraqus stopped him. "Terra."

Terra stopped and looked Eraqus with a confused look on his face.

"Consider this an opportunity. A second chance for you to change my mind."

"What?" Terra asked.

"You must know, I care for like my own son." Eraqus stepped off the podium and stopped in front to Terra. "If I could have my way, I would name you Master in a second. But how can I, when you are so obsessed with power? Terra, you musn't be afraid of losing. Fear leads to obsession with power, and obsession beckons the darkness." Eraqus placed one hand on Terra's shoulder. "You must not forget."

As Eraqus released his grip, Terra bowed down. "Thank you, Master. I swear, I will not fail you again." He gripped his fist, his eyes determined.

Then, without another word, he walked off.

Gwen let out a sad sigh, and wanted to speak to Terra, but dropped it. She straightened herself and turned to Eraqus. "Master, I best be on my way."

She turned and started walking away, catching Mike running past her and down the hall. 'Mike? Where's he going?'

"Wait, Gwendolyn." Eraqus's voice stopped her. "Before you depart, I have one other...Well, call it a request, of utmost priority."

Gwen turned to him and blinked. "Yes?"

Eraqus gave out a small sigh. "I told Terra this could be a second chance to show the Mark of Mastery-and I meant it. However, that flicker of darkness he displayed during the examination-I can sense it runs very deep. If he were to-" He stopped and changed his words. "If those powers were to prove too much for him to handle, I want you to bring him back to me at once."

Gwen looked down, a flicker of sadness in her eyes.

"It's for his own good. I could not bear to lose any of you to the darkness." Eraqus reassured.

Regaining her courage she nodded. "Of course. I would never let that happen. I promise I'll bring Terra back. Only this time-you'll see he has what it takes to be a Master." She turned around, her boots clanking a little bit as she walked.

She stopped and looked up at the porcelain glass window, seeing the burst of various colors that spoke to the artist in her.

"He's not as weak as you think."

Xxx

"Terra!"

Terra turned around and saw Mike running out into the courtyard, almost tripping himself in the process. "Huh?"

Mike ran up to him and stopped as he bent over and gasped for breath. "I-I-I…"

A hand came down his head and ruffled his hair. He looked up to see Terra smiling down at him.

"It's okay." Terra assured him.

Gwen opened the doors and stepped out. She closed them quietly as she watched Terra and Mike with a solemn look on her face. Terra walked away from Mike and then slammed his fist on the armor on his shoulder. In a flash of light Terra was now wearing armor that covered him from head to toe that was colored black and bronze with lines of orange decorating the armor, outlining his defined built muscles. Upturned sharp red hooks hung from his ankles, and a dark visor helmet with two tall red prongs sprouting from the top of the helmet covered his face.

Terra raised his Keyblade high in the air, and a ray of light blasted towards the sky, creating a hole in the atmosphere.

Black and purple spirals danced around a center of light-a gateway to the Lanes Between. Terra had never seen anything quite like it before, and he had to admit, it looked beautiful. Guided by instinct, Terra hurled his Keyblade like a boomerang far beyond the castle yard. A light twinkled, like a gleaming star in the night sky.

On the Keyblade's return, it did not come back like a regular Keyblade, but had transformed into what looked like a hovering motorcycle. With the seat and engine bronze like the blade and a soft teal like the handle, the vehicle swerved from the sky and stopped beside Terra on its own accord. Terra leaped in the air, landing perfectly in the driver's seat. The hovering vehicle veered sharply around the round grassy courtyard, finding a large enough area to properly depart.

Kicking hard on the accelerator, the strange vehicle shot straight up towards the sky, like a rocket after liftoff. Without looking back, Terra embraced the mystical dancing sphere of light, immediately entering the world of space.

Mike stared in awe as Terra departed but then remembered what the stranger said to him before he decided what he was going to do.

He was already too late. Mike touched a piece of armor on his shoulder and in a flash of light he wore his own Keyblade Armor. His armor sported shades of green and gold. The armor on his knees were gold and with a sharp, upward-pointing hook on the outer side of each one. Mike's helmet looked more squashed and flat at the top compared to Terra's.

His helmet also has two prongs on either side of his head which point backwards and angle diagonally upward. Finally, Mike's boots are colored completely gold in this outfit, as opposed to the multi-colored ones he normally wears. Mike took a chance to marvel at the new armor he was wearing before he copied Terra's actions, creating a portal to the Lanes Between and then tossed his Keyblade up, watching as it came back and changed into what looked like a winged surf board.

Mike jumped onto the board and shot off into the sky.

Gwen rushed down the stairs and on to the main platform when she saw what he was doing. "Wait, Mike! What are you doing?"

Master Eraqus rushed after her. "No! He mustn't!"

Both watched as Mike vanished into the portal, following Terra.

Eraqus quickly turned to Gwen with a look of urgency on his face. "You must bring him back!"

"Don't worry, Master!" Gwen nodded.

She of all people knew of Mike's condition and she didn't know what might happen to him if he was out there alone.

'I promised to protect you, Mike which is what I'm going to do.' Gwen thought with a determined look on her face.

She touched the armor on her shoulder pad and like Terra and Mike she was engulfed in a flash of light that covered her head to toe in her own armor. Gwen's armor is mostly colored in shades of silver, black, grey and blue with a silver breastplate resembling an upside-down crescent moon and a dark-visored helmet. Her helmet, like Mike and Terra's, bears two prongs on either side, with her silver ones wrapping around the sides and angling diagonally downwards. She tossed her Keyblade into the air and jumped up as her Keyblade changed into glider that resembled a bow shaped platform with wings floating above the platform connected by a metal rod that Gwen could use to control her glider.

She quickly followed Mike into the gate, thus beginning the journey of the three Keyblade wielders.

Xxx

"And thus concludes the first episode. What will our three heroes encounter out there? Will Terra become a Master? Will Mike get his memories? And will we see any action? Find out next time on Total…Drama…Birth by Sleep!" Chris laughed as he watched from the monitor room.


	6. The Quest Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

"_Amazing, Mike!_"_ Cameron said, sitting on the piece of floating roof with Mike, Zoey, and Gwen. "Defeating Mal by absorbing your personalities into yourself. It's fascinating and amazing!"_

_"I got to admit it was pretty cool, Mike." Gwen smiled. "And it sounds pretty poetic too. With the way Mal imprisoning you in your mind and manipulating everyone this whole season."_

_Mike had spent the last hour telling everyone of his experience trying to free himself from Mal's control. Still though he did feel bad that everyone had to suffer while Mal was running around. Sam's game betting broken along with Sierra's smart phone and Duncan's knife. Izzy getting beat to a bloody pulp, Courtney and Scott's relationship destroyed (even though Courtney was planning to betray him and Gwen), Cameron almost dying in the mine and Zoey nearly drowning in the finale. They understood that it was not him but his evil personality that did all those things but he still felt horrible. _

_"Still though are you okay?" Gwen asked suddenly._

_"Am I okay? I'm great. Why wouldn't I be?" Mike confusedly questioned._

_"Your personalities are gone." Gwen clarified. "They might have been alternate personalities of you but they were still kind of…"_

_"People." Mike finished with a sad look. "Yeah. I didn't want to get rid of them, even if it meant getting rid of Mal." Mike then smiled. "But they're always be a part of me. So they're not dead."_

_"Yes. I'd say they just fused with you, making you completely whole." Cameron nodded. "And you've even have all their skills."_

_"Yeah, that's pretty cool." Mike nodded in agreement._

_"Does that include their…likes and dislikes?" Gwen asked curiously._

_"Huh?" Mike and Cameron asked._

_"I mean Vito was a bit of a lady's man and Manitoba Smith was a flirt too. Svetlana was…well I want to say like a feminine side, Chester could the grandpa version of you and Mal well…" Gwen trailed off. "I'm just wondering if fusing with them all has made you take on any of their traits."_

_"I don't think so. I haven't talked like any of them, I haven't complained about my aching back, I didn't take my shirt off, and I haven't well…done anything bad." Mike looked away._

_"I believe you." Everyone yelped when Zoey spoke up and put her hand on Mike's shoulder. "When I was in danger you came to rescue me, when I was almost eaten by piranhas and when Mal tried to eat me. Duncan was afraid you were an alternate personality and that Mal was the real one but you proved him wrong because in the end…" Zoey put her hand on Mike's chest. "It doesn't matter which personality you have. Your heart was always there and it was stronger than Mal's evil."_

_Mike smiled as he put a hand over Zoey's hand. "Yeah, our hearts were stronger. You guys never gave up on me even when it looked like I was gone for good."_

_"And you never stopped fighting." Zoey smiled back._

_"Good triumphs over evil." Cameron spoke up._

_"Yeah, the good guys win again." Gwen laughed awkwardly since she was never on the hero's team._

_"Come on, Gwen. Just because you were the villain's team doesn't mean you were evil. You risked as much to help me as Cam and Mike did." Zoey pulled her hand away from Mike and wrapped her arm around Gwen's shoulder. "Just as Mike's heart stopped Mal yours was good the entire time. We made it through, together."_

_"Together." Cameron offered his hand._

_"Together." Mike put his hand on Cameron's._

_"Together." Zoey was next._

_Gwen looked at the other three before smiling happily and putting her hand on the gathered hands in front of her. "Together, always."_

Xxx

"Last time on Total Drama Birth By Sleep, the show started off with some old fashioned boring introduction of the heroes."

_A view screen showed Gwen, Mike, and Terra enjoying watching the stars and training. _

_Another screen showed Zoey going to school in Megaville while the third showed Cameron on Destiny Island._

"Luckily for us it ended and got onto the real exciting challenge, the Mark of Mastery."

_The scene changed to show Terra and Gwen standing before Master Eraqus lecturing them while Master Xehanort watched from one of the three thrones. _

"But fortunately for us someone spiced up the test to make it more exciting." Chris laughed as the screen showed Master Xehanort flexing his hand and the orbs of light becoming contaminated by Darkness.

"It was fun to watch and even more fun when Terra and Gwen stepped up during the second challenge."

_Gwen and Terra faced each other with their Keyblades out before charging at each other and clashing their blades._

"It would have been a lot more fun if they fought to the bitter end but unfortunately we are not so lucky. Yawn."

_Master Eraqus stopped the challenge and awarded Gwen as the winner._

"Gwen was chosen as the winner of the Mark of Mastery and that was it…"

_Master Xehanort walked through a dark hall and met with someone._

"Or was it?" Chris chuckled as the screen now showed Terra leaving the Land of Departure, followed by Mike and Gwen. "So now our first three heroes are now traveling other worlds? What dangers will they face? Let's find out on Total…Drama…Birth by Sleep!"

Xxx

Terra had to admit that the traveling to other worlds for the first time was exciting. If not for the mission he was on he would have smiled and laughed in exhilaration but now was not the time for such things. He stepped out of the portal and dispelled his armor as he walked; leaving a golden aura that highlighted his being for a second before fading away. He stopped and looked around, finding himself in a jungle of sorts. He took a moment to take it all in but he didn't allow himself to be distracted and that saved him when his senses screamed at him to turn around.

He spun around, summoning his Keyblade to see what was behind him. "Monsters?"

It was a sleek, humanoid creature with blue skin. Its arms and legs ended in points and had no distinct digits. Its head was triangular shaped with two long, jagged, lightning bolt-shaped antennae. Its red eyes were set in an angry expression, and it moved in a jerking, twitchy motion.

"The ones the Master mentioned-" Terra spotted more surrounding him. "These are the Unversed!"

One went on the attack, leaping at Terra with the intent to strike at him with its clawed end but Terra defended by parrying its strike and then swinging his Keyblade, aggressively slicing through the creature's body and it watching as it faded into a purple mist. Terra then launched himself at the other Unversed surrounding him, slashing and slicing with his Keyblade, taking out a few before one of them sank into the ground, avoiding Terra's Keyblade finishing it off. He leapt and spun through the air, delivering a downward slash on a nearby creature that vanished into a purple mist when it was destroyed. Terra then saw a shadow traveling through the ground towards him and he jumped back as the Unversed jumped out and slashed at him.

Terra had been trained to fight creatures like this in his many training sessions and studying on fighting creatures of Darkness that employed fighting styles like these Unversed.

**"Wind!"** Terra shouted as he pointed his Keyblade at three monsters, conjuring a gust that sent the monsters flying into trees and they instantly exploded into mists of darkness that instantly vanished.

His reflexes had been trained to near perfection so he was able to automatically react to when the Unversed tried to attack from a blind spot and slash it in two with his Keyblade. In only a minute the Unversed that had surrounded him were all gone.

Except for the one trying to sneak away from him.

"Oh no you don't!" Terra took off running after the shadowy creature.

He chased it through the forest, not stopping even to catch his breath. Terra was physically the strongest of Master Eraqus's apprentices and he had the most stamina so jogging through a forest was no trouble for him. He stopped when he came out of the forest, jumping at the creature as it tried to escape and finished it with one slash. With the creature gone Terra stood up and looked around to see the place he arrived to.

He came upon a cliff overlooking a large city with a great wall surrounding it and outside the city was a desert that seemed to expand for miles. The city featured cat themed architecture with a large cat castle resembling a sphinx like he had seen in books about worlds that featured civilizations living in the desert. Terra looked to the edge of the cliff and saw he was now alone. A red cloaked figure stared down at the city with its back turned to him until it turned around to look at him.

"Oh, a visitor. You are not someone who is from here." The...creature remarked.

Terra looked over the stranger as it stared at him with a curious gaze. It wore a red cloak with a hood that covered it head to toe and he could see its body wrapped in white bandages when it opened its cloak. Its skin was pale blue, its eyes were red, and its teeth were razor sharp when it opened its mouth to speak.

"Who are you?" Terra asked calmly.

"Who am I? I am Mumm-Ra, as all in this world would know." The mummy answered with an interested look. "Now you must reciprocate the introduction. Who are you?"

"I'm Terra." Terra answered simply. "What do you know about those monsters, the ones that attacked me?"

"Hmph. Now why would I care creatures so base, so inconsequential?" Mumm-Ra asked rhetorically.

"They are base, that's for sure." Terra agreed with a smile. "Anyway I 'm looking for someone. Ever here of man named Xehanort?"

"That name is not familiar to me." Mumm-Ra answered, turning away from Terra. "Is he an outsider, like yourself?" Mumm-Ra put a hand to his chin as he turned around. "Oh…but I do remember someone leaving the remains of the castle. A man unlike anyone who exists on this world."

"Tell me, what was he doing here?" Terra asked, stepping forward.

"I couldn't say…I can only be certain he was not from this kingdom." Mumm-Ra watched as Terra looked disappointed with the news. "If you're curious, go see the castle for yourself." Mumm-Ra pointed at the gate at the bottom of the mountain. "There-the entrance is just at the bottom of the mountain. And the path is here." Mumm-Ra moved out of the way, showing Terra a path leading down the cliff.

"Thanks." Terra said and ran forward, rushing past Mumm-Ra and going down the path.

"Perhaps he did speak, about imprisoning 'the light'…" Mumm-Ra said, making Terra turn back and face him upon hearing those words. "'The light' could be so many things. Could he have meant the Eye of Thundera? Or perhaps he meant something else or even someone."

"Someone…" Terra whispered, turning around and continued running.

Mumm-Ra watched as he ran before vanishing in a flash of purple fire. Terra made it down to the bottom of the cliff and walked through a pair of ruined gates into the city. He looked around seeing the ruins and could tell they hadn't been this way for very long. A battle had taken place here and the city had obviously been abandoned or wiped out. He stopped in the middle of the road as his senses screamed at him and he summoned his Keyblade just as he was surrounded by four creatures, Unversed.

Two looked humanoid with blue skin. Their hands were silver and ended in three-fingered claws. Their heads were diamond-shaped and sported two short horns on either side. They had red eyes set in a sorrowful expression and the Unversed logo is emblazoned on its chest. The other two resembled chili pots colored black with red spikes on them. Their bases were also black with two short spikes on it. They both had a short, red, lightning-bolt shaped "wing" on either side of their bodies. They both had large, red eyes taking up most of the front of their bodies and were set in a happy expression with Unversed emblem is on their backs.

Terra slashed at the nearest pot shaped Unversed, using a few combos that killed it instantly before turning and slashing at the nearest humanoid Unversed. They were not skilled opponents and barely put up a fight as Terra defeated them in under a minute.

'That was too easy.' Terra thought as he continued walking.

When he spotted the black cat shaped castle in the center of the city he decided that was where he would most likely get his answers and walked off in the direction that would most likely take him to the castle. It didn't take long for him to reach the path leading up to the castle and when he did that was when more Unversed appeared. Two more chili-pot shaped Unversed appearing, floating around a large fat looking Unversed the flexed its arms as it glared at Terra. It had blue skin, its feet curled up at the toes and its conical arms ended in round, silver, mitten-like hands.

Its head was spherical and sported two long antennae that hook upward sharply. The creature's midsection was black with white highlights and was lined by triangular patterns resembling teeth. Its red eyes were set in a happy expression and the Unversed symbol was emblazoned on its belly. The creature tried to punch Terra with its fist but Terra raised his Keyblade in a defense posture and a Barrier formed around the Keyblade and blocked the attack, knocking the Unversed back and giving Terra time to jump and deliver a downward slash to its head that traveled down its body and split it in two, causing its body to dissolve into a purple mist like the others did when they were defeated. Terra then turned to the two pot-shaped Unversed and finished them off with a few well placed slashes before continuing to the castle.

Terra came upon the entrance and walked inside, taking note of the grand hall and it entertained the idea that the castle was built the way it was because it was made to house royalty. He could see torn portraits that would have showed land, the previous rulers, and other things considered beautiful in the world with grand curtains hanging down the walls to cover the windows. Even though he had no idea where to go he kept on going until he came upon what looked like the throne room and in the center of the room, at the foot of the throne was someone lying on the floor, looking like they were sleeping. Terra walked up to the person, taking note of her cat like features, pointed ears and clawed hands and feet showing that the people who once lived here might have been cat like humanoids.

She had brown hair with white highlights reaching her upper back. It was tied in a ponytail with strands framing both sides of her face. She wore a dark brown dress with golden manacles and a garter on her right thigh. She wore a necklace with a small black stone bound by a red chord and a bag on her hip and a small bow on her wrist. She wore no shoes leaving her barefooted.

"This feels so familiar…" Terra held up his hands, sensing something from this sleeping woman.

"Her heart is filled with light, not the slightest touch of darkness." Terra looked up and saw Mumm-Ra sitting on the throne. "Just the kind of heart I need."

Terra stared up at Mumm-Ra with a calm expression. "For what?"

"Imagine with me, the most glorious of futures, seven of the purest hearts, each overflowing with light."Mumm-Ra stood up from the throne. "When brought together they grant the power to rule all worlds."

"What do you mean?" Terra questioned.

"That key you hold…The Keyblade is it called?" Mumm-Ra asked, smirking as Terra summoned his Keyblade.

"Where did you learn that name?" Terra settled into a fighting stance.

"That trinket is the only way to obtain the hearts." Mumm-Ra continued as if Terra hadn't spoken.

"No more games!" Terra threw his arm out. "Where is Master Xehanort?"

"Impudence will get you nowhere child." Mumm-Ra said darkly. "If you wish to learn more, you must retrieve the heart of Pumyra."

"And why would I ever want to do that?" Terra asked.

Mumm-Ra grinned. "It's not a matter of 'why' but of will." The mummified man held up his hand and purple glowing sphere appeared in the palm. "In your heart there is darkness just waiting to be awakened."

Terra grunted as he nearly fell over, a purple aura surrounding his body. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Perhaps not yet." Mumm-Ra agreed. "But I have power over sleep. And I can awaken what's inside you. Then you will be free to be who you truly are."

Terra gasped as he eyes glazed over.

"_Remember that darkness lurks in every heart._"

"_Darkness is our foe._"

"_Would that we could be rid of it._"

"_You must destroy it._"

"_Push the darkness down, give it no quarter in your heart._"

Terra heard the voice of Master Eraqus in his mind as he stood up, lacking emotions on his face and his eyes blank as if he was in a trance. He held his Keyblade over the woman named Pumyra and there was flash of light from the edge of the Keyblade. A sphere of light came out of Pumyra's chest and floated into Mumm-Ra's hands.

"Here it is…" Mumm-Ra grinned evilly as the orb of light was engulfed in purple flames. "Just what I've waited for."

Terra gasped as he suddenly felt himself awakening from what seemed to be a dream.

"To think that all he spoke of was and will be true." Mumm-Ra gazed into the light of orb as he held it up to behold it.

"What? How did I-" Terra put a hand to his head before gasping as he realized what happened and spun around to face Mumm-Ra. "What did I do? What did _you_ do?"

"You speak as if I pulled some invisible string. No, you couldn't be further from the truth child. I simply whispered to the darkness you've already held inside." Mumm-Ra answered.

"How could I do this?" Terra held out his hands and looked at them. When he looked at Pumyra he gasped as Mike replaced Pumyra for a second. "Mike!"

"Yes…Now you want to know where Xehanort went." Mumm-Ra approached Terra and Pumyra. "Well, that I cannot answer. He disappeared into the darkness. But now I know the Keyblade is necessary to gather hearts. Join me, collect six more hearts of pure light, then we will rule all the worlds together."

"You seem to be mixed up." Terra glared at the mummified man and summoned his Keyblade. "I'm a peacekeeper, not a tyrant."

He would have attacked if not for the sudden earthquake that made him look around warily.

"Hmm…For a peacekeeper you're off to an exceptionally poor start." Mumm-Ra mused, an amused look on his face with no concern for the vibrations."Remember this, the darkness in your heart cannot be held by force or strength. Now…my work here is done as is yours. Wasn't there someone you needed to chase?"

Terra watched as purple flames began engulfing Mumm-Ra. "Wait!"

He leapt through the air and tried to hit Mumm-Ra with a spinning attack but the mummified man completely vanished, his laughter echoing throughout the halls of the abandoned castle.

Terra panted as he looked around when the castle started shaking again. "The Unversed…They're going to bring down the castle. I have to do something."

He threw an apologetic glance at Pumyra before running out of the throne room. He ran out of the throne room and followed the vibrations until he entered what appeared to be the great hall and stopped when he saw the source of the shaking. Standing before him was a large Unversed resembling a spinning wheel. Its main body was comprised of a long, red column with its black head placed near the top. The tip of the column had three silver spikes on it, and its left side is lined by a few spikes as well. A long, bent, red arm with black joint connects a large, black wheel to the top of the column.

This wheel had five red spokes in it and five white spikes on its outer edge. A similar, but shorter arm was attached to the main column just below the Wheel Master's head, and ends in a large, black, claw-like spool with gold wire wrapped around it. A wide, flat, brown protrusion attaches to the main column just above the base and connects to two of the Unversed's legs. Its third leg was connected to the base of the column on the opposite side as the other two. Its red eyes were set in a sorrowful expression and the Unversed insignia is displayed on the base of the column.

'This is different than the others.' Terra realized as he prepared for battle.

The Unversed fired a beam of energy from its spiral arm at Terra who jumped to the side, avoiding being injured by the attack. The Unversed then leapt up into the air and fell towards Terra who ran out of the way as it landed on the ground, releasing a shockwave of darkness that would have likely injured Terra if he hadn't moved. Terra leapt forward with a loud cry, slashing at the monster with his Keyblade and landed several hits before the monster threw its spinning arm at him but Terra ducked under and resumed his attacks before the monster leapt away and landed on the other side of the hall. Terra dashed forward after the Unversed but stopped as it fired another blast from its spiral arm.

"Defend!" Terra shouted as he held his Keyblade up and wall of hexagon shaped patterns appeared in front of him, blocking the energy blast.

The Unversed jumped up again and Terra jumped back as it landed where he had previously been, avoiding the shockwave of the darkness that came when the monster landed. He tried to attack with leaping slash but the monster jumped again and landed behind him, hitting him in the back with a blast of darkness that sent him flying face first into the ground. Gritting his teeth from the pain Terra climbed back to his feet and ran after the monster. The Unversed threw its spinning arm at him again and spun its body at such high speed it looked like a whirlwind but Terra dodged these blows and leapt at the monsters, landing more blows on it with his Keyblade as it was distracted but stopped as it was suddenly engulfed in darkness that managed to touch Terra and burn him, making him jump back as he felt like he was touching acid.

Terra decided to change tactics as he pointed his Keyblade at the Unversed. "Freeze!"

A blast of ice came out of his Keyblade and slammed into the Unversed, knocking it back. That was when the beast seemingly had enough as it engulfed in a spiral of energy and charged at Terra. The Keyblade wielder stood his ground and held up his Keyblade. "Defend!"

The same barrier that protected him before came up just as the beast was on top of him and even though he was pushed back by the strength of the monster it didn't falter and protected him. The monster stopped running and the energy around it faded as it keeled over, looking it was out of breath. Realizing this was his chance Terra attacked again, slashing at the monster before realized it was danger and took off, once again engulfed by energy. Terra raised his barrier again, grunting as the giant Unversed pushed him back but held on until it once again stopped to recuperate and attacked like before. The monster jumped away and landed on the other side of the room, now acting wary of its opponent and launched its spinning wheel arm again but Terra was done playing.

"Fire!" Terra shouted as a stream of fire came out of his Keyblade and engulfed the monster in flames. "Thunder!"

Just as it was done being roasted it was then electrocuted by the blast of lightning from Terra's Keyblade, causing it keel over. Terra dashed forward at high speed, dodging the spinning arm and jumped through the air and plunged his Keyblade into the Unversed insignia. The monster let out a howl as it fell over and dissolved into a purple mist like its brethren did when they were defeated. Terra was panting slightly but he was otherwise unharmed.

'This was intense.' Terra thought as his Keyblade vanished. 'I can see now why Master Eraqus said these Unversed are a threat.'

If there were other monsters as dangerous as the one he faced right now then the worlds were indeed in danger. Terra sighed as he turned away from where the beast had been and walked back into the throne room, looking down at the comatose Pumyra.

"It's my fault her light was stolen. It was because I was weak…" Terra muttered shamefully as he looked down at the unconscious woman's body. "I'm sorry. I'll get your light back once I learn to stand up against the darkness."

Terra turned away and walked out of the throne, heading towards the entrance where he had entered.

'Why would Master Xehanort imprison the light? The purest hearts of light, do they hold the answer?' Terra thought as he walked through the abandoned city.

Mumm-Ra watched from the top of the cat shaped castle as Terra left. "Seven pure hearts, each completely void of darkness." He smiled evilly as he turned away from the balcony. "Such a search may take some time." He vanished into purple fire again.

Xxx

"Well, looks like Terra cleared the first world." Chris remarked, having watched what had just happened with Terra on one of his large screens. "Maybe we should send someone to stop him…Nah! No need to upset the boss just because of some fun. But we can check up on the others."

Xxx

Mike had to admit that traveling through the Lanes Between was exciting and he barely could keep himself from grinning as he took his first steps onto the first new world that he visited alone without anyone with him. This world looked so…

Empty.

He found himself standing on a cliff, overlooking a jungle that didn't seem different than anything he hadn't seen before.

"This is a new world? I kind of expected something…new." Mike sighed as he looked around. "How come the first world I finally get to see ends up being nothing but an empty jungle?"

He looked down and spotted some people walking through the jungle. They all looked to be around his age, dressed in strange outfits with two of them not looking completely human.

"Wow." Mike said in excitement and turned around, running back to see if he could get down to meet them.

Rushing through the forest he wandered if they had seen Terra at all but he shook his head and concentrated on finding out how to reach them. But his thoughts were interrupted when two rat like shadow creatures came out of the ground and blocked his path, glaring at him with red eyes.

"Huh?!" Mike stepped back and summoned his Keyblade in a reverse grip. "What are these things?"

One of the lunged to attack him but Mike delivered a quick slash that knocked it down and he quickly finished it off with a second one. The second creature sank into the ground and traveled beneath him.

"What the-YIPES!" Mike jumped back, somersaulting through the air as the creature leapt out of the ground to attack him. "Nice try!"

Mike spun forward, delivering three fast paced slashes that quickly finished the shadow off before it could get a second hit in.

"That was odd. I wonder what those things were." Mike shook his head. "Whatever. I got to keep moving."

He soon enough found a way down to the bottom where he saw those people in form of rocks arranged like stairs. He hopped down until he landed on solid ground but waiting for him were two more of the exact same creatures from before.

"Not again!" Mike groaned but leapt to attack all the same.

Between Terra and Gwen Mike was the fastest and most agile of Eraqus's apprentices, which reflects in his primary fighting style of dodging, quick movements and swift combo attacks. His preferred fighting style consisted of very fast, wide backhanded strikes with his Keyblade in quick succession to deal damage. His single strikes aren't as powerful as Terra's powerful blows, but his ability to attack quickly makes up for his lower attack power. Like before it took him three strikes to finish off one creature and then move onto the other with the same attacks.

"This is too easy." Mike said once they were gone. "Where do they keep coming from though?"

There had to be a reason they kept on showing up but he had no idea why. He walked through the forest, following the trail of footprints in front of him. He finally came out of the forest and stopped whn saw what looked like a large ship in front of him.

"Wow!" Mike marveled at the ship in front of him.

He saw the symbol of what looked like a hawk painted on the ship's hull and he saw the people he had been following were on a ramp leading into a ship.

"Who's there?" Someone called out.

Mike yelped when someone jumped out of the bushes, brandishing what looked like glowing swords and pointing them at him. "Whoa! Whoa! I'm not here to cause trouble!"

"Who are you?" The person had red hair, green eyes, and was wearing a body that looked stitched together with pieces of armor on his shoulders, partially on his chest, and his ankles.

"I'm Mike!" Mike raised his hands to show he was not a threat. "I'm came here looking for some-"

Mike stopped as five more Unversed appeared out of the ground, behind the red haired guy holding his blades at him. The man holding the blades looked over his shoulder when he saw Mike's widen and saw the creatures behind him. "What the-"

"Look out!" Mike summoned his Keyblade. "**Wind!**"

A gust of wind slammed into the creatures and sent them flying through the air, splattering into nothing when they hit the ground.

"How did you-" The red haired man stopped when he saw something move behind Mike. "Look out!"

He leapt over Mike and slashed at the fat looking monster that tried to punch Mike in the back. The creature screamed as it turned into a purple mist that faded away a second later.

"Wow. Thanks." Mike said, knowing he might have been a goner if not for the person in front of him.

"No problem." The man's swords stopped glowing. "The name's Aerrow of the Storm Hawks. You wouldn't happen to know anything about those creatures would you?"

"Sorry, I don't have a clue. I just came here looking for a friend of mine." Mike shrugged as he held up his Keyblade. "You didn't see anyone with a weapon like mine did you?"

"Sorry, haven't seen a weapon like that before." Aerrow mimicked Mike by shrugging his shoulders. "Pretty powerful to make a wind blast like that. What Crystal does it use?"

"Crystal?" Mike tilted his head. "What Crystal?"

"It doesn't use Crystals?" Aerrow asked, looking surprised. "What Terra are you from?"

"Terra? Well, I'm from-" Mike tried to think of an answer but before he could the sound of explosion rang through his ears, coming from the ship.

"The Condor!" Aerrow spun around and ran onto the ship. "Guys! I'm coming!"

"Wait for me!" Mike said as he followed Aerrow up the ramp and through the halls until they came upon a pair of doors.

They opened, allowing Aerrow to jump into the room, brandishing his weapons as he landed on the floor and looked around.

"Aerrow!" A girl with blue hair, dark skin, and orange eyes called out upon seeing him run into the room. "There's something here!"

Aerrow looked around and spotted the same creatures, purple skin, red eyes, and crouched like rats scattering up and down the bridge of the Condor. "Those things again?"

"Look out!" Mike shouted as he jumped over Aerrow, spinning through the air and delivered a powerful downward slash to an Unversed that was creeping up to attack Aerrow from behind.

"Huh?" Aerrow looked to see the Unversed Mike had slash disappear. "Thanks."

"Who's he?" A guy with blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a blue stitched together body suit asked as he took out a crossbow.

"Someone who just my life. We'll ask questions later." Aerrow replied as he looked around, seeing more of the Unversed crawling around the bridge. "For now we got to move. Take them out quickly!"

"Right." The blue pulled out a staff as she settled into a stance.

"Got it." Mike spotted a muscular person with pointed ears and a pointed nose with a small rhino like horn stick out of the nose claps his knuckles together that started glowing green.

"Please hurry. If these creatures keep messing up the place there's a chance they could clog up the engine and then…Total…Doom." A man with…green skin and only three toes whispered in a foreboding tone.

"That's not happening, Stork. Stay near the controls. Everyone else spread out and take them out. Look all over the ship." Aerrow said.

Mike nodded as he and the Storm Hawks chased the Unversed through the bridge and down the halls. He slashed apart any Unversed he found. It was strangely easy to get rid of the Unversed in his way while the others were having just as much ease in getting rid of the Unversed as he did. Junko bashed his fists on Unversed that got in his way, Finn blasted them with his crossbow, Piper and Aerrow used their weapons to bash or slash any Unversed that came into their sight to pieces. It took over a full ten minutes before the Unversed were all gone.

"Whoa!" Aerrow rubbed his head as they all gathered back onto the bridge. "That was rough."

"So what were those things?" Piper asked as she sat down on the couch.

"Beats me. I met Mike outside who said he was looking for someone who had a weapon similar to his." Aerrow gestured to Mike's Keyblade as it vanished in a flash of light.

"Yeah, a friend of mine who vanished from our…Terra." Mike said, believing that the word 'Terra' meant some kind of home or world. "I came out looking for him and this is the first one I found. But now that I think about it I think these creatures might be why he left. Did anyone hear of some kind of trouble out there?" Mike believed something bad was happening and it connected to what masked man he met back in the Land of Departure had said about Terra.

"Nothing like this." Aerrow said, putting a hand to his chin as he looked to the others. "Anything on the chatter?"

"I haven't heard anything about creatures like this before. There hasn't been mention of any trouble from Cyclonia or the usual bad guys either." Piper said thoughtfully.

"What would Cyclonia have to do with this?" Finn asked.

"These creatures had to come from somewhere, Finn. I bet Master Cyclonis conjured them up." Piper pointed out.

"Who's Master Cyclonis?" Mike asked everyone's attention. "…What?"

"You haven't heard of Cyclonis or Cyclonia?" Finn asked incredulously.

"I'm…new around here. I haven't been to another Terra before." Mike shrugged helplessly.

"Well, it's not that uncommon, Finn. Not all of Atmos has been mapped." Piper commented.

"We'll catch you up, Mike. In the meantime maybe we should ask around if anyone's seen creatures like the ones that attacked us." Aerrow stated. "Let's hope it was a onetime thing or Atmos could be in danger."

Xxx

"And Mike makes it to the world of Atmos." Chris announced. "Yawn. The way he's going is boring. When's the excitement going to happen? Maybe I should check on Gwen and see what she's doing."

The screen showed Gwen emerging from a portal into a new world.

Xxx

For what felt like the longest time Gwen had wondered what travelling to other worlds was supposed to feel like and now that she had done it she had to admit it was extraordinary. She came out of the portal, her armor and glider disappearing instantly as she stepped onto solid ground. She looked around, believing she was in some sort of large grand hall with a grand stair case leading upstairs. It had a high ceiling, a large carpet in front, and two large doors. While it was mostly colored pink Gwen had to admit she would have liked to sketch this place.

She walked up the stairs slowly, taking note of everything around here.

"Who goes there?" A female voice said as Gwen made it to the top of the staircase.

Gwen stopped and gaped as the guards pointed their spears at her. It wasn't the spears Gwen was worried about as she had gone through rigorous training the last two years with Terra and Mike under Master Eraqus and before Madam Web. It was the fact that they were shaped like bananas.

"Who are you?" The voice that spoke was that of a young lady who was walking towards her.

Gwen took the second to look over this person, believing her to be a princess. She had long pink hair that went down to nearly her feet, pale pink skin, was dressed in a pink gown with pink trims in the sleeves and purple trim at the scoop-neck collar while a crown rested upon her head.

"You look to be human but aside from Finn we've never encountered another human before. Who are you?" The woman asked.

"My name's Gwen. Sorry for barging in but I was looking for some friends of mine."Gwen answered with a smile and bowed slightly to show she meant no harm. "Actually, I'm not exactly sure where I am." She looked around. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You are in the Candy Kingdom in the Land of Ooo. I am Princess Bubblegum." The woman answered, raising her hand and her guards raised their spears away."You are not from here?"

"No, I'm not Your Majesty. Some friends of mine went missing and I've been trying to find them for some time now. This is the first place I managed to find." Gwen answered honestly.

"Hmm." Princess Bubblegum looked over Gwen, seeing if she was lying. "I see. Well then, perhaps we can assist you."

"You can?" Gwen asked.

"There is a boy named Finn who goes on all sorts of adventures in the Land of Ooo. He travels all across the land, from here to the other kingdoms. He lives in the Grass Lands that sits on the border of the Candy Kingdom." Princess Bubblegum gestured for one of guards to hand her a map which she held out to give to Gwen. "Perhaps he can help you."

"Thank you." Gwen nodded as she opened the map. "Sorry for barging in like that."

"You should also be careful as the Grass Lands are close to the Ice Kingdom." Princess Bubblegum stated with a wary tone. "The ice King has a nasty reputation for kidnapping maidens from all over the land. Be on the lookout as you enter the Grass Lands."

"Thank you. I'll be careful." Gwen said as she bowed her head one more time before turning and walking out of the grand hall, spotting the entrance easily. 'Ice King kidnapping princesses? What kind of world have I landed on? I wonder if the others landed on a world like this.'

She stepped out of the castle and looked around the kingdom she had found herself in. Everywhere she looked she saw buildings that were composed of some form of candy or sweets. Even the ground looked like it was made of candy.

'I've stepped into a real fantasy world. Are all worlds in the Realm of Light like this?' Gwen thought as she continued walking.

During her stay in the Land of Departure Gwen not only trained to use her Keyblade but also read up on the other worlds that existed outside of her own. The Universe or the Multi-Verse as multiple authors had clashed on what was accurate was divided up into three realms: the Realm of Light, the Realm of Darkness, and the Realm Between. The Realm of Light is the portion of the universe where Light was dominant and it was the realm that most Keybladers protected from the Darkness. The Realm of Darkness was the realm made up of the Darkness in everyone's hearts but at the same time it had its own worlds that mirrored the worlds in the Realm of Light but the people on these worlds lived harsher lives with monsters that were more terrifying and dangerous than most other monsters outside of the Realm of Darkness. The Heartless was one of the monsters that came from the Realm of Darkness while the monsters that remained on their worlds were similar to the Heartless but different in many ways.

While the Realm Between had many worlds that were considered somewhat normal that sat on the border between the Realms of Light and Darkness. In fact the world where Gwen and the other missing contestants from Total Drama was in the Realm Between but was closer to the Realm of Light. Her world was somewhat normal compared to fantasy worlds that existed in the Realm of Light due the fact that worlds in the Realm Between rarely had any contact with magic or monsters from the Darkness. It was an interesting subject to read about when she was in the library and Gwen had to wonder if her friends and fellow former contestants had landed in one of the Realms.

'It'd be easier if they had all somehow landed on one world and I could find them all. I can look for worlds in the Realm of Light and the Realm Between but Master Eraqus said it is forbidden to enter the Realm of Darkness. ' Gwen thought as she walked through the candy town. 'If I can't find them on any of the worlds it could mean they were lost to the Darkness like our world was.'

Gwen promised Mike she would find their friends and bring them all together and Gwen had every intention of carrying that promise out. However the worlds were vast and endless and Gwen couldn't help but wonder if she had bit off more than she could chew. Once she was outside the kingdom she summoned her Keyblade had it transform into her glider. According to the map the Grass Lands would take more than a day to reach by foot and Gwen didn't have time to waste. She hopped onto her glider and flew off in the direction of where the tree fort that Princess Bubblegum spoke of.

Xxx

A dark cloaked figure watched as Gwen flew through air towards the Grass Lands. "She's coming. I am to follow, right?" The cloaked figure spoke with a feminine voice and was silent for a second. "Understood."

A pillar of Darkness came up from the ground and engulfed the cloaked woman.

"See ya soon, Gwenny."

Xxx

"And Gwen makes it to the Land of Ooo. What will she encounter there? Will she find this tree house and the friends she's looking for?" Chris asked. "We'll get back to her after something interesting happens. In the meantime let's see how Zoey's doing."

The screen switched from Gwen to Zoey who was still in Megaville.

Xxx

Life in Megaville was never dull.

Zoey learned that there was always something happening here. The City of Heroes was meant to be a place of hope for people who lost their worlds to the Darkness. Heroes who had survived the loss of their worlds came here to make a new home as best as they could. What had started as a place of refuge had thrived into a community but unfortunately every community had its problems and Megaville was no different.

Where there were Heroes there were also Villains who wanted to take over just satisfy their lusts for power and seemed to have no care for the chance of their hearts being overtaken by the Darkness lurking inside of them. Zoey would have helped stop them but Sensei Jack had asked her to keep her Keyblade hidden as long as possible. For the most part Zoey hadn't been needed as the local heroes and authorities had kept the villains under control. It was a nice place and Zoey was happy with all the friends she made but she wanted to leave and find her friends.

The only thing that kept her going was the dreams she had of her friends being with her, looking at the stars together.

"Keyblade, the mightiest weapon in the Universe. It has the power to unlock the hearts of beings and worlds and can even unlock the boundaries between worlds. Powers that only a person can ever dream of having." The man looked down at the girl standing next to him. "Bell, my dear. I believe it's time for you to get acquainted with some friends. I'm sure she wouldn't mind since you both had super powers."

"Keyblade." A girl whispered.

Xxx

"Hey, Zoey."

Zoey was walking down the street to Megaville High dressed in her school uniform when someone called out her name.

"Ilana?" Zoey asked.

Ilana Lunis was fellow student who had quickly become one of the friends Zoey had made when she started attending school in Megaville. She had blond hair curved upwards with black eyes, freckles under her eyes, pal skin, and wore the same uniform as Zoey.

"How are things going?" Ilana said as she walked up to Zoey, the two of them walking together. "You seem a little…distant."

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just thinking about…stuff." Zoey trailed off.

"It's about your friends again, isn't?" Ilana was one of the few who knew of Zoey's history and her status as a wielder of the legendary Keyblade.

It had helped that Ilana and Zoey were very much alike in many ways, both social outcasts in a way, both sent here because they had lost their worlds, and both having powers that made them heroes. That's right, Ilana lost her world to the Heartless like Zoey had because her people had been betrayed by someone who offered themselves to the Darkness for power. All that Ilana had left of her world were her 'brothers' Lance and Octus who had survived and now lived here in Megaville with her.

"I'm just wondering when it's the right time to leave. My friends…we lost each other when our world was lost. Mike, Cam, Gwen, and my other friends, they're all I have left now." Zoey sighed.

"I understand. If Lance and Octus had been lost I would wish to look all over the universe for them." Ilana agreed. "I'm sure Sensei Jack just wishes for you to be ready and I hear Octus has been working on making ships to travel to other worlds."

"Really?" Zoey looked at Ilana with an eager look. "Will he be done soon?"

"You'll have to ask him." Ilana shrugged. "I have been-AH!"

Zoey stopped and looked ahead to see what mad Ilana scream. When she saw the source her eyes widened as she flashed back to her world, seeing the same dark creatures with yellow eyes attacking her and her friends as they struggled to fight them off.

"Heartless." Zoey's face sported a look of anger as she held out her hand and in a flash of light her red colored and flower decorated Keyblade appeared in her hand. "I've been waiting to run into you guys again for a long time! You'll pay for destroying my world!"

In front of the two girls was a group of Shadow Heartless that totalled in fifteen that crept towards them, readying their claws to attack their pray.

"Heartless, here?" Ilana gasped as she stepped back. "No…not again. I can't bear to see another world lost."

"Not this time." Zoey stated as she settled into her custom fighting stance.

She gripped her Keyblade in both hands as she held it in front of her, mimicking a Kendo stance. After training under Sensei Jack who had some knowledge of the Keyblade Zoey developed her own fighting style much like all Keyblade wielders did. Terra's style revolved around using his strength, using power blows that were too strong for opponents to defend against and finished them off quickly. Gwen's style was based on agility and trickery, Mike's was based on using speed and quick attacks, while Zoey's style revolved around using swiftness and precision in her attacks in a balance blend of offence and defense combined with her aerobatic dance moves.

She showed her skills as she moved forward, weaving through the Shadows, dodging their claws and attacks, knowing better than almost anyone what would happen if they managed to strike her. She swung her Keyblade out and slashed one Heartless in two, spinning around as it vanished into a dark mist. Another Shadow had tried to sneak up on her but Zoey was too quick and her senses instantly let her know of the danger behind her and she slashed the offending Heartless apart like she did the first one. The Heartless were now more wary of her as they tried to surround her and take her out by overwhelming her but swordsmen skills were not the only thing Zoey had learned.

Zoey closed her eyes as she held her Keyblade in front of her."**Sonic Blade!**"

In a burst of light Zoey moved forward at high speed, impaling one Shadow, then another, and then another as she kept on attacking, moving too fast for the Heartless to react. Ilana watched as Zoey was like a blur moving back and forth, eliminating the Heartless with startling ease. To think that the last time she had faced the Heartless she had barely survived. Now she was not only able to defend herself but she was able to fight and defeat them. Zoey thrust her Keyblade and the final Shadow was destroyed along with its brethren, leaving only the two girls.

"Zoey…" Ilana smiled as she ran forward. "Zoey that was amazing!"

"Ilana." Zoey looked at Ilana with a smile. "Are you all right?"

"Never mind me, are you all right? You did all the fighting." Ilana said as Zoey's Keyblade vanished.

"Aw, it was nothing." Zoey waved off Ilana's concern. "Compared to what Sensei Jack has put me though this was nothing."

"It was not nothing, Zoey." Ilana shook her head. "The last time you fought the Heartless you had just gained your Keyblade and barely survived. Now…Now you not only managed to fight them but you defeated them and made it look so easy. That is a great accomplishment, Zoey. You should be proud of yourself."

"I am, Ilana. I am proud but I'm also…worried." Zoey admitted as she looked away slightly. "Two years of being here and no one ever reported Heartless sightings and now all of a sudden they show up and not just anyone they show up to attack you and me."

"You think it's not a coincidence?" Ilana asked with a concerned look.

"Sensei Jack said that the Heartless have been getting stronger somehow. The Darkness has been growing and worlds are being attacked like my world was. The heroes here have kept the Heartless at bay but…" Zoey looked down at the ground. "What if I'm the reason they're here now?"

"What makes you say that?" Ilana asked.

"The Heartless are drawn to the Keyblade and they showed up to attack us. What if I'm the reason they managed to get here?" Zoey questioned.

"That's foolish." Ilana frowned. "The Heartless do not wander the worlds looking for Keyblades, they attack worlds because they are looking for the light in people's hearts. That's not your fault. We were prepared for a Heartless attack long before you came here."

"I…I guess so." Zoey conceded.

"Now come on. We have to get to school." Ilana put a hand on Zoey's shoulder. "Or we'll be in detention again."

"Yeah, wouldn't want that." Zoey chuckled.

They walked off in a hurried pace, knowing that the Heartless attack would make them late for school.

Xxx

"She's more skilled than I thought." The man commented. "No doubt her training under Jack had prepared her for this day."

"Bah. She's not that tough." A harsh female voice came from behind him.

The man turned around to see someone wearing a dark cloak watching from the other end of the roof. "You're here."

"The old man sent me to keep an eye on Zoey, not that I had anything better to do. The efforts you guys went through for these losers is just crazy."

"She's proven worthy to hold the Keyblade. Our investments have been well worth it. I held my hand of the deal I made with him and I expect you to hold up your end." The man stated as he turned back to look down at the city.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll hold our end of the bargain." The woman said as she vanished into a corridor of Darkness.

Xxx

"And that folks is just the beginning. Will Terra find where Master Xehanort is? Will Mike make new friends with the Storm Hawks? Will Gwen find wrap her head around the idea of a Candy Kingdom? And will Zoey pass her class?" Chris asked. "Find out next time on Total…Drama…Birth by Sleep!"


	7. Battle of Land and Sky

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Total Drama or Kingdom Hearts**

Xxx

_Master Eraqus was sitting on his personal comfy chair in his private study with the fire place on, keeping him warm as he read his book. He usually came here after a long day for some rest and read from a few books that had been brought by several travellers from other worlds that he enjoyed. This evening however had a small interruption as Eraqus glanced up when he heard a knock at his door._

_"You may enter." Eraqus said as he closed his book, hoping the interruption wouldn't take long._

_The door opened slightly and Eraqus watched as Gwen peeked her head in. "Master Eraqus, can I come in?"_

_"Ah, come in Gwen." Eraqus put the book on the table next to his chair._

_Gwen stepped in and closed the door, taking the chance to look around the small library Eraqus had. A small part of her wondering what was written in those books but she could ask later._

_"Is there something you need?" Eraqus asked, getting Gwen back on track._

_"It's about the man who came here with Mike. I was wondering, just who is that man?" Gwen asked._

_"Ah, Master Xehanort. An old friend I've known since my youth. We shared the same Keyblade Master and attained the title of Master when we passed our Mark of Mastery Exam." Eraqus answered with a nod. "He already explained to me what happened when he found young Michael. How is he?"_

_"He's awake but…afraid. He doesn't remember me or the times we spent with our friends on the island." Gwen answered sadly. "What happened to him? How could he forget me or...the others?" Gwen was thinking of Zoey when she asked that question._

_Eraqus sighed, understanding Gwen's feelings. "I understand your feelings, Gwendolyn. It is my hope that Michael remembers you soon."_

_"What happened to him?" Gwen asked, unable to hide her sadness._

_"I should not say but Michael's heart was…damaged when Master Xehanort found him. I can only surmise that Michael had been partially corrupted by the Darkness during your world's destruction and tried to extract the Darkness before it consumed him but the process damaged his heart." Eraqus explained in a way that Gwen would believe._

_"Damaged his heart?" Gwen's eyes widened. "Will he recover?"_

_"It'll take time as wounds to the heart cannot heal as wounds to the body. In order for him to recover he'll need the support of those closest to him." Eraqus answered softly._

_"Support?" Gwen questioned._

_"The heart can heal over time, even after experiencing the kind of trauma Michael endured but it'll take time. Be there for him, Gwendolyn and he will recover from his wounds and possibly memories." Eraqus said with a small smile._

_Gwen smiled back and nodded. "I will." However Gwen was not done yet. "Master Eraqus, there's something I need to know."_

_"Yes, Gwendolyn?" Eraqus questioned._

_"When we got our Keyblades we were given keychains of sorts that we thought were gifts from the producers. When we were attacked and summoned out Keyblades those keychains were attached to them." Gwen summoned her Keyblade and showed Eraqus the keychain with the star charm at the end. "I got this as a gift from the producers but I think it came from someone who knew about the Keyblade."_

_"Hmm…" Eraqus frowned. "There is a ritual that allows someone to gain the Keyblade but it was labelled as forbidden to ensure the Keyblade never fell into the wrong hands. The ritual is usually done here, after the Master has determined that the apprentice is ready to receive their Keyblade. It is called the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. It can be done in many ways, one of which is done through a specially designed keychain." Eraqus picked up a book and opened it, showing Gwen the picture of a heart shaped keychain. "These keychains are what we call the basic forms of Keyblades that wait for the right heart to awaken them but it can be activated and force anyone to face their Dive to the Heart."_

_"Does this mean that the person who made me and my friends go through that…was someone with a Keyblade?" Gwen asked._

_"It is a possibility, Gwendolyn." Eraqus nodded grimly. "Xehanort shared these concerns with me and I reluctantly agree that someone may have gained the Keyblade and unleashed the Heartless onto your world. Xehanort has left to see if it is possible to track down this dark Keyblade wielder."_

_"I see." Gwen said as she looked down at the ground. _

_"Gwen, I understand your wish to try and track down the one responsible for your world's destruction but remember you promised to remain and look after Michael. You do not have the experience to track down this person." Eraqus advised._

_"I know…That's why I've decided to stay and train, until I become a Keyblade Master so I can find our friends and bring them all together again." Gwen said with a steel look in her eyes. "I won't let them down."_

Xxx

**Log Entry 1**

_I am a man of science, I have always been for it is my passion and it's allowed me to create life unlike any other. I am always looking for ways to expand my knowledge though as there are many questions that still need to be answered. Then one day a man came to me, claiming to be from another world. When I asked him if he was from another planet he claimed that when he said another world he was referring to another dimension. _

_Though skeptical I allowed him to show me his powers which opened my eyes to what he called the World though we refer it to the Universe or the Multi-verse. We then spent some time, discussing knowledge of the worlds and how the World is governed. He showed me the results of his quest, understanding the worlds and what made them exist and our place in the world. He spoke of the heart of the worlds and the darkness that seeks to devour them. _

_Naturally I was skeptical but after working with him in lab, using his key shaped sword to summon a door in front of us and with my scanning technology I detected a massive energy that lay beyond the door. He called it the Heart of the World._

Xxx

In the center of a large lab a man in a dark coat was speaking with a large man who had orange skin with yellow, and four large yellow eyes on his stomach, gray pants with black shoes and a belt. The man wearing the dark coat held out a hand and in a flash of light appeared a key shaped sword. The orange skinned man watched as the man in the dark coat pointed the Keyblade forward and a jet of light blasted from the edge of the bladed end. It flew to the center of the lab and exploded in a flash of light that revealed a door.

Xxx

**Log Entry 2**

_Further conversations with the man who has the weapon shaped like a key has revealed not only the existence of our World's heart but the existence of the darkness that seeks to devour it. When further questioned he explained that the darkness lurks in every heart, no matter how pure and if left unchecked it would swallow the heart whole. This left me full of questions:_

_How does the Darkness in a person's heart engulf them?  
How can it devour the heart of the world?  
And is there a way to control it?_

_I asked if there was a way to extract the darkness from a person's heart and to my surprise he answered yes. His key shaped weapon has the power to lock the door, keeping the darkness and light of the world in balance and it has the power to open a person's heart, freeing the darkness within. I then asked if it was the only way to release the darkness and the man only said 'Do you wish to find out?'_

Xxx

The orange skinned man watched the tank that had what looked like hearts floating in them become engulfed in darkness and changed into shadowy creatures with yellow eyes, antenna sticking out of their heads, and sharp clawed hands as they crawled around the tank like insects.

Xxx

**Log Entry 3**

_The lab had been modified to scan the properties of the heart and look for ways to suppress and amplify the darkness within. The first few experiments caused the subject's heart to collapse, showing that our hearts are fragile. Though it seemed to be a failure the man showed me shadowy creatures that upon scanning confirmed that they are pure manifestations of darkness. How is it possible?_

_How can a being exist as nothing but pure darkness? It is not human or ghostly like the ghosts that have been studied in this world but complete darkness. And they are multiplying very fast. I have provided test samples and the creatures only attack the living ones. _

_The test samples vanish without a trace upon being attacked and a new shadow creature appears not long after. They seem to be driven by the basic need to attack the living and make more of themselves. They attack the living to take their hearts, destroying the light in the hearts and causing the darkness to overwhelm them and create new shadows._

_The man has labelled them the Heartless._

Xxx

The orange skinned man sat down in front of a giant super computer; typing away at a fast rate and on the screen appeared what looked schematics for some kind of machine.

Xxx

**Log Entry 4**

_I have begun drawing up plans to create a device to artificially create Heartless based on the samples of darkness I have gained. This is my first step to creating a fully real heart. The next step is learn how to use light and combine them to create a full heart. The man explained that in order for a being to exist there are three requirements: Body, Soul, and Heart._

_The Body is the vessel for the heart and soul, granting a physical appearance and form and acts as a medium for the person's heart and feelings._

_The Soul is what gives the body the ability to literally live, the energy that wills the body to live and allows the body to carry on the heart's desires._

_The Heart is the person's ability to feel emotions, desires, have memories, wills, goals, and ambitions. _

_With this in mind I see to create a true being that will not only have a true heart but will be able to harness the power of the heart and allow me to understand it._

Xxx

The man stood patiently as robotic arms worked away at constructing a smaller humanoid robot. The robot was suspended in a tank with its arms held above its head by metal bindings and its feet were kept in place by clamps. The man looked at the screen and nodded in satisfaction at the progress.

Xxx

**Log Entry 5**

_It is easier than I thought to find a way to create a true being. I have already begun creating the body of my greatest creation based on the research done by fellow men of science. The soul will be easier to replicate as it is basic energy that allows the body to exist. The heart is another story all together and the man believes that in order for my creation's heart to be truly whole which will be a challenge._

_It is easy to replicate darkness but it seems light will be a much greater task. The man tells me I must find a heart that is composed of pure light and one of pure darkness. A heart of pure light and one of pure darkness? Does such a thing exist? _

_He then explains to me of maidens having hearts of pure light and when used properly it would create a power one use to control all worlds. I have begun adjusting my equipment to look for hearts of pure light and darkness. If all goes according to plan I will not only be able to create a true being I will create one unlike anything the worlds have ever seen before._

Xxx

The man watched as the tank opened and out of it fell a girl who looked around ten years old with long white and white dress. The girl fell into the man's arms and he gently lifted her up. The girl opened her eyes, showing them to be soft white as she looked up the man. "…Daddy?"

Xxx

**Log Entry 6**

_The project for the most part is a complete success. The girl I have created not only looks like a real being but she acts it, for a ten year old girl anyways. Her personality is mostly that of a shy and reserved girl, who latches onto me when we are not alone, afraid of the company I invite over but it is fine as I've taken quickly to the role of being a father. The body is that of a cybernetic human based off of three girls that have become renowned heroes in this world after arriving here with their father while the soul is an energy source provided to me by an associate that assures me that it will keep her alive forever. The heart was the most challenging of the three but I believe I was successful._

_I chose two subjects with the hearts I believed were perfect for the child and digitally copied the hearts created from the memories of the subjects that I chose which I then placed in the child, becoming her heart. I cannot wait to see just how far my efforts have gone in creating this girl…I have just begun to realized I have not only come to think of the being I created as a child but I have even begun to refer to it as 'her.' If I am going to think of her as my daughter I believe it appropriate that I name her as well. I believe I shall call her…Bell._

Xxx

"The Heartless are here in Megaville." Sensei Jack closed his eyes, sitting a meditation position with his sword next to him. "This is most troubling."

"Does this mean Megaville is in danger of a Heartless invasion?" Zoey asked.

"I do not know for sure. We had all known it was a have matter of time before the Heartless came here but now that they have it will be a challenge to keep them from finding the heart of this world." Jack opened his eyes. "All attempts to reach Clockwork, Grim, and Madame Web have failed. The last time I had spoken with them they claimed the worlds were threatened by another threat just as dangerous as the Heartless."

"Just as dangerous? As if we didn't have enough to worry about." Zoey sighed. "Does this mean we're on our own? They won't send any help?"

"I'm afraid for now we are indeed alone but fret not, Zoey as many of hearts that live here are filled with the power of righteousness. That gives them the power to ward off the darkness." Jack smiled as he stood up. "Hope is not lost."

"So what do we do?" Zoey asked, eager to help.

"For now we wait and see if that single attack was the beginning of an invasion. If it is, I'm counting on you to find the world's heart and lock it." Jack put his hand on Zoey's shoulder when he saw the look of surprise on her face. "You've trained for this. You are indeed ready."

"But I never locked a keyhole before. How will I know what to do?" Zoey asked, shocked by the task her teacher was giving her.

"You will find a way, Zoey. You've come a long way since the day you arrived here and I know you've learned how to use your Keyblade." Jack lifted his hand off Zoey's shoulder. "Have faith and you will be rewarded."

Xxx

Zoey sighed as she changed out of her school uniform and changed into her a special set of clothes set up for her Keyblade duties. She wore a black T-shirt with a dark red short sleeved jacket, dark cargo pants held up by a black belt, and black boots. Her hair was done back up in small pig tails and a cloth was tied around Zoey's head like a bandana. The jacket also had coattails on the sides falling down to the knees.

She looked herself in the mirror and stretched her arms out to get a better look at herself. 'Wow. They went all out on this outfit.'

The outfit had been custom made for her to provide protection against the Darkness and allowed her to move and fight without any form of restraint. The bandana had been added on by Zoey herself, feeling like it fit with her character.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Zoey looked out the window upon hearing a loud scream and rushed out to see what the cause of the screaming was. "What in the world?"

She expected Heartless but instead was a giant orange skinned dragon like monster that was attacking the courtyard of the school.

"BLOSSOM! BUTTERCUP!" The voice came from the girl trapped in the dragon's jaw/hand.

"Bubbles!" Zoey jumped out of the window and summoned her Keyblade.

Bubbles was actually one of the heroes brought to Megaville after her world was attacked by the Heartless. She along with her two sisters were known as the Powerpuff Girls and they were most active heroes in Megaville. Blossom and Buttercup were already fighting the monster with their sister, actually Buttercup was doing the fighting while Blossom on the ground with a red haired boy with glasses and dressed in a lab coat.

'Dexter's here too?' Zoey thought as she rushed onto the playground.

Buttercup leapt up to a deliver a kick to the dragon's face but it opened its mouth and let loose an energy blast that knocked Buttercup into the ground. The dragon then snatched her up with its other jaw/hand and looked ready to eat her.

"BUTTERCUP!" Her two sisters shouted in horror.

'That's it!' Zoey thought as she leapt up, jumping high over the dragon and swung her Keyblade down, slashing both of the dragon's limbs, releasing Bubbles and Buttercup, with Zoey catching the latter as she landed on the ground.

"Zoey?" The three girls asked at the same time as Zoey put Buttercup down.

"Are you all right?" Zoey asked as she stood up.

"Y-Yeah. I'm good." Buttercup answered, not use to being saved.

The dragon roared as it glared down at the human that had dared to attack it and opened its mouth, releasing a blast of blue energy like its jaw/hand had done with Buttercup. Zoey spun around and blocked with her Keyblade. The dragon fired another blast and Zoey parried again and the cycle continued as Zoey got closer to the dragon. Finally when she was close enough she become a blur that vanished and reappeared behind the beast.

A large cut appeared in the dragon's chest, causing one final roar as it exploded in a blast of orange light.

"Wow." Bubbles whispered.

"She's become really skilled." Blossom commented.

"You don't know the half of it." Dexter pushed his glasses back.

He had known about Zoey's status as a Keyblade holder about as long as Sensei Jack and he studied up on various subjects regarding the Keyblade and the Heartless. He believed there was a way to restore the hearts of beings and worlds lost to the Darkness but so far he yet to make any success.

"Curses!" A voice whispered, watching the spectacle from behind a nearby building. "I've spent months working on that plan. The plan to destroy the accursed Powerpuff Girls and take this world for myself! But now my plan is ruined, foiled all because of that blasted key carrying girl. How dare she interfere with the plans of the great Mojo-Jojo!"

The person in question was in fact a green skinned monkey with a strange white and purple striped helmet covering his large heat and trench coat to help him blend in.

"Perhaps it is you who should not interfere." Mojo-Jojo spun around, not noticing the strange girl behind him.

The girl was dressed similar to the Powerpuff Girls but wore white with long white hair and soft white eyes. "You're way out of your league, Mojo. Maybe it's time for you to retire."

Mojo turned to face the girl. "I don't know who you are but I cannot retire. For I have not achieved my goal and my goal is to destroy those Powerpuff Girls. Until I destroy those Powerpuff Girls I will retire for I am Mo-GAH!" The monkey was cut off as the girl grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.

"Old habits are so hard to break." The girl said, her face contorting into a sinister look. "One would be to keep your pie hole shut. My name is Bell and this is my friend." Behind Bell was someone clad in a dark coat and hood that covered their face. "And my father has longed to have a word with you."

Mojo could only gasp as the girl dragged him away to meet with her father as Zoey looked at the remains of the beast.

'I better get started. Once I find the heart of this world I can start looking for the others.' Zoey looked up at the sky, seeing the stars even though it was currently day time.

Xxx

"And thus marks the end of Zoey's first battle in Megaville. A little anti-climatic because I went through the trouble of showing everyone those reports and what the guy was planning to do." Chris yawned. "Oh well, let's see what Terra's up to. I hear he ended up in the same world as Mike. This is should be fun."

Xxx

Mike honestly thought after arriving her that his first trip on a new world would be boring but the Storm Hawks had managed to liven things up for him quite a bit. For the most of the day he was on the Condor watching the Storm Hawks go about their daily routine and learning more and more about Atmos, the name of the World he was on made of up a thousand floating islands called Terras. Mike had to snort at the name of the island, wondering what Terra would think when he told him of that. The Storm Hawks were an elite group of warriors called Sky Knights that protected these Terras from all sorts of dangers, such as beasts, pirates, and worst of all Cyclonians.

When Mike asked what the Cyclonians were Aerrow explained that the Cyclonians were a tyrannical Empire seeking to bring all of Atmos under their control. They typically expanded their territory by conquering Terras and enslaving the populations and the Sky Knights were charged with protected the Terras.

He was lounging on the bridge of the Condor when the doors behind them opened, allowing Piper to walk in. "Hey guys. I think I got something."

"What's up?" Aerrow asked.

"I did some research on those creatures that attacked us and called a few of our fellow Sky Knights to see if they saw anything weird. They didn't know anything about the creatures when I described them but Starling mentioned she heard rumors of strange creatures appearing randomly out of nowhere on various Terras, causing trouble before vanishing. She chased a few of them that could actually fly and she followed the trail to the Forbidden City." Piper answered.

"The Forbidden City? That place is a pile of junk now." Finn groaned.

"Forbidden City?" Mike asked as he walked up.

"It's an ancient underground city that was the resting place of an Oracle who could tell the future but I freed the Oracle a while ago." Aerrow explained. "Why would these creatures be going there? A hiding place?"

"I don't know. But Starling couldn't follow them into the city, it was too dangerous to go in alone and she was called back to Terra Atmosia to help with the repairs and bolster its defences." Piper answered.

"Well then, I guess the Forbidden City's our next stop. Maybe we can find out what these creatures are." Aerrow said as he turned Stork who was at the wheel. "Take us to the Forbidden City, Stork."

"Oh joy. Traps, evil creatures, all the right signs that this will be a field trip to our doom!" Stork said ominously as he laid in the course.

"Is he always like that?" Mike whispered.

"He's just excited." Aerrow said simply.

It took only a few hours for the Condor to reach the Terra where the Forbidden City was located. The Terra was covered in a jungle with a large mountain in the center that the Forbidden City was hidden in. Apparently whoever built this city wanted to ensure it was protected and hidden as Mike couldn't say he had seen many cities inside a mountain before.

"Everyone be on the lookout. If these creatures are hiding here they could attack the Condor while we're gone." Aerrow said as everyone except Stork walked down the ramp. "Spread and check the area first."

Everyone nodded as they slowly spread out with their weapons out and ready in case anyone or anything tried to attack them.

Xxx

In the shadows of the abandoned city a young woman stood in the center of what looked like an alter in front of a pile of broken stones. The girl had short dark colored hair, violet eyes, and wore a purple body suit under a cloak that fell to the ground. In her hand was a staff with a purple crystal at the end that glowed brightly as she spoke in a foreign language. Before appeared a glowing apparition that took the form of a woman with white glowing eyes and long hair.

"What wouldst thou know, Master Cyclonis?" The woman asked in an amused tone.

"Well, Oracle I come before you to ask whose light shines brightest in all of Atmos." The girl said in a soft yet sinister tone.

"Cunning is your strength, Master Cyclonis but hold a young girl I see. Alas, her potential is far greater than thee." The Oracle answered.

"Alas for her!" Cyclonis frowned. "Reveal her name."

"Knowledge is her realm, curiosity is her strength, and a wish to one day collect the Crystals in Atmos." The Oracle answered.

"Piper!" Cyclonis whispered in recognition.

As she conversed with the ghostly woman she did not notice that someone was in the chamber, peeking out from behind a pillar.

"A ghost that knows and see everything…How about that." Terra whispered as he turned away.

"The heart of Piper, protector of Atmos, doth shine bright. Beware Master Cyclonis, the heart of light." The Oracle continued.

Those words made Terra pause. "Another one? Wait. What if Master Xehanort is here?"

Cyclonis spun around, hearing something behind her and held out her staff. "Who goes there? Show yourself!"

Seeing no point in hiding Terra stepped out of the shadows. "My name is Terra. I'm looking for a man named Xehanort…Master Xehanort. I thought you might have seen him."

"That name is of no consequence to me." Cyclonis said, pulling her staff back. Terra closed his eyes, deciding that sticking around wasn't worth the effort and turned to leave but Cyclonis suddenly had an idea. "Wait." Terra looked over his shoulder at the young Empress. "Ah yes… You came here to see the Oracle to find this man? I have a task for you. If you succeed I will ask the Oracle where you might find this Master Xehanort."

"And the Oracle will know?" Terra asked skeptically.

Cyclonis's smirk turned to a frown as she turned away. "Do you dare to question me?"

Terra put a hand to his chin in thought. "What is the task?"

"There is a young girl who resides with a group called the Storm Hawks. Her name is Piper," Cyclonis walked towards Terra and held up a crystal. "Bring her to me and to make sure you do not fail bring back her heart in this." The crystal glowed a soft golden light as Cyclonis handed it to Terra.

"Her heart?" Terra asked as he looked at the crystal. "I don't' understand. You're after the hearts of light too?"

"What I demand is her power, knowledge and skills. I have had more than enough of her light." Cyclonis said as she turned around.

"And what did this girl do to you?" Terra questioned.

"That is no concern of yours." Cyclonis answered darkly. "Now heed my words. My power is all the light this world needs."

Terra stared at the woman with a calm look. "Where can I find her?"

"She is near. The Guardians are on alert, looking for signs of danger. She will come here." The Oracle answered, confusing Terra slightly.

"The Storm Hawks frequent Terras that have yet to become part of my Empire. No doubt they are present when a rebellion is taking place." Cyclonis answered. "I will have my forces provide for you the means to find them. You are dismissed. Go now and seek her."

Terra's mind was too occupied to be annoyed at how he was being treated as a servant by this woman. 'A heart of light… This Piper is my best chance right now. Maybe she will lead me closer to Master Xehanort.' Terra held up the crystals. 'But what if I-'

His mind flashed back to the cat woman named Pumyra and what he had done. He had shamed himself and his friends by removing her heart even if it had been at the behest of someone else.

'No.' Terra shook his head. 'I won't let that happen.'

Terra left the chamber, leaving Master Cyclonis alone and followed the trail of debris from failed traps he led him through the Forbidden City. Just as soon as he left the chamber where he met Cyclonis and the Oracle he found himself surrounded by four Flood Unversed.

However Terra had sensed their present before they had appeared and was already prepared. "**Drift!**"

A wave of energy burst from Terra's Keyblade and enveloped the Unversed, lifting them off the ground as they had been caught by the Gravity spell Terra had used. Terra leapt at the one in front of him, delivering three fast combos before it faded away. Terra leapt at the next one, taking it out quickly and the other two after that with just a few combos. Just as soon he took out them out three Red Hot Chili Unversed appeared ready to attack. Terra jumped forward, taking out one quickly and then threw his Keyblade at the one on his right, the Unversed vanishing as soon as the Keyblade passed through it.

Terra then turned to the final one as his Keyblade returned to his hand and took it out with a few combo hits. Just as soon as it vanished a Scrapper Unversed appeared behind him, ready to attack.

"**Freeze!**" Terra spun around and fired an Ice shard from his Keyblade that pierced the Unversed's body, destroying it before it could even blink just as two more appeared to attack. "**Thunder!**"

Terra held up his Keyblade that fired a bolt of lightning up and came back down as two smaller bolts, impacting the Unversed, destroying them just as fast as the first one. However one more Unversed appeared, this one being a Bruiser and it moved to attack Terra just as he turned to face it. Terra jumped over the first bunch and slashed away at the Bruiser, taking it out in a matter of seconds. Once all the Unversed were destroyed Terra's Keyblade disappeared as he walked out of the cave and looked around.

"Hey!" A female voice called out to him.

Terra stopped and looked forward to see a girl running up to him, brandishing metal staff in her hand. 'Could she be the one?'

"What are you doing here?" The girl asked. "This place is dangerous."

"I'm okay. What about you? Is it a good idea for you to be here?" Terra replied.

"It's okay." The girl gestured to the symbol of a hawk on her outfit. "I'm a Storm Hawk. My name's Piper."

'It's true then…' Terra thought as he listened to this girl that Master Cyclonis wanted him to kill. 'Her heart filled with pure light. She's the one.'

"I came here looking for someone…Does the name Xehanort mean anything to you?" Terra asked.

"Xehanort? Can't say that name rings a bell." The girl answered with a thoughtful look on her face. "We're here because there have been reports of strange creatures causing trouble. Have you seen them?"

"Now what?" Whatever Terra was about to say was interrupted as familiar creatures appeared from out of the ground, surrounding him and Piper. "The Unversed!"

Piper stepped back and gasped as Terra's Keyblade appeared in his hand. "That blade. It's just like Mike's!"

"Get out of here!" Terra shouted as he prepared to fight.

Piper looked around, seeing the Flood Unversed slowly creeping towards them. "I'm not leaving you alone!"

"I'll be fine! It's you they're after." Terra stated.

"Hang on! I'll get the others to come help!" Piper said as she ran and leapt over a Flood and ran off into the forests.

"Hey wait! Don't go in there alone!" Terra called out, trying to follow her but the Unversed cut him off. "Out of my way!"

Terra realized that the only way out was to defeat all the Unversed and he quickly set forth to do just that. He started by pointed his Keyblade above him. "**Gather!**"

The magnet spell he cast began its work of lifting Unversed off the ground and pulling them towards the vortex of energy above them. Terra leapt up, swinging his Keyblade out and delivering several quick but powerful combos that destroyed the Unversed that had been caught. He landed on the ground and spun around, pointing his Keyblade at an Unversed that had come out of the ground to attack him. "**Thunder!**"

The resulting lightning blast destroyed the Unversed instantly but four more appeared. Two of them bring Bruisers while the other two resembled a rabbit with black skin, a wide lower body with a thin neck, two spikes for legs, no arms, and a large round head with two floppy long 'ears'. Terra dashed forward to attack but one of the Bruisers saw him coming and launched a fist at him. Terra grunted as the first fist slammed into his face but he raised his Keyblade and blocked the second blow with a barrier. Terra let out a yell as he leapt up, his Keyblade glowing bright as he slammed it into the ground and released a shockwave that knocked the gathered Unversed down.

"**Drift!**" Terra quickly used a Gravity Spell to lift them off the ground, leaving them floating helplessly in the air.

Terra jumped, swinging his Keyblade up and taking out one of the Hareraisers with just a few hits before turning to the Bruisers. He took out one just with a few blows and turned to the other one just as the Zero Gravity spell he had used reached its limit and allowed the remaining Unversed to land on their feet. Terra dashed forward, stopping to create a barrier as the Bruiser jumped up and landed back on the ground, creating a shockwave that the barrier blocked. Once the barrier faded Terra delivered a few quick slashes that took down the Bruiser and finished off the remaining Hareraiser just as quickly.

Terra was not out of the woods yet as a batch of Red Hot Chili Unversed appeared to take over for the Unversed he destroyed, surrounding him but he was not worried. "**Drift!**"

Just like before the Unversed were left helpless as a vortex appeared above Terra and gathered them all up for Terra to dispose of with a just a few well placed slashes. A Scrapper appeared and attempted to attack Terra with its claws but Terra pointed his keyblade at it, firing an ice shard that destroyed it on impact. A Red Hot Chili Unversed that managed to survive released a fire blast at Terra while his back was turned but Terra jumped to the side and delivered an upper slash that took of that annoyance rather quickly. Just as it faded away another batch of Unversed appeared, the same type as the Unversed that appeared earlier but in greater numbers.

"**Thunder!**" Terra shouted, releasing a blast of lightning that struck all the Unversed, destroying a few but stunning the rest.

He leapt forward, delivering a horizontal slash to a Bruiser that knocked down and created a barrier to block a few attacks from ther Unversed surrounding him. He gathered energy into his Keyblade again and slammed it into the ground, releasing another shock wave that knocked them all back.

"**Drift!**" Terra shouted, using his Zero Gravity spell again to paralyze the Unversed. "**Thunder!**"

Another blast of lightning reduced the Unversed's numbers to only a few just as they managed to break free of the Zero Gravity spell but Terra dashed forward, slashing them all until the very last one faded into a purple mist. With all of the Unversed destroyed Terra turned to the forest to find Piper but when he took a good look around he knew it wouldn't do him any good.

'Lost her.' Terra thought. 'She said she doesn't know anything about Master Xehanort. That leaves me with one other option.' Terra turned back to the cave leading into the Forbidden City. 'The Oracle…back in the city.'

Xxx

"Aerrow!" Piper shouted as she ran back to the Condor. "Guys!"

"Piper?" Aerrow asked as everyone regrouped. "What's wrong?"

"I ran into a guy with a weapon like Mike's." Piper answered, gesturing to Mike. "He was fighting off those creatures at the entrance to the Forbidden City."

"You met someone with a Keyblade?" Mike asked eagerly. "Could it be Terra?"

"I don't know. He asked me if I had seen someone named Xehanort and then the same creatures from before appeared out of nowhere." Piper explained.

"We got to help him." Mike said as he took off into the forest.

"Mike, wait a second!" Aerrow called out, chasing after him.

'Hang on, Terra. I'm coming.' Mike thought as he ran through the dark jungle.

He could see the path to the cave that lead to the Forbidden City but as he made to the end of the forest something large landed on the ground in front of him, kicking up dust everywhere.

"Gah!" Mike yelped as he jumped back, summoning his Keyblade on instinct.

The monster that stood before him large, brown tree, its trunk split into three large branches, which, in turn, forked into three more branches, giving it nine branches covered with green leaves. Purple fruit resembling whole apples and blue fruit with a longer, more conical shape hung from its branches. It had four thick roots that it was using as legs. There were three red thorns on each of these roots. The tree had a jagged, black opening in the trunk resembling a mouth, and it had a vertical split in its trunk between a pair of red eyes that were set in a sorrowful expression and the Unversed insignia is emblazoned on it just under its mouth.

"It's another one of those monsters." Mike whispered in complete shock at the appearance of the monster.

The monster let out a roar as it stomped forward to possibly squish Mike with its giant feet.

'Well it's like any other tree it's probably got the same weakness.' Mike thought as he held up his Keyblade and swung it, releasing a barrage of fire balls at the tree that set it on fire. "**Flame Salvo!**"

The tree like Unversed let out a scream as the flames burned at its wooden skin but it only lasted for a second before it shook the flames off and leapt up, gliding through the air despite its large size and fell down towards where Mike was. Mike jumped and rolled forward as the Unversed landed, creating a small shockwave from its impact and jumped up as he spun and faced the monster, not realizing the star charm he received from Gwen started glowing.

"Take this!" Mike shouted as he threw his Keyblade at the Unversed, seeing it land a few slashes on it before it returned to his hand.

The Unversed jumped at him again and Mike ran out of the way and pointed his Keyblade at the monster. "**Freeze!**"

An ice shard shot from his Keyblade and hit the Unversed in its back as it turned to face him.

"**Fire!**"

A ball of fired blasted from Mike's Keyblade and exploded in the monster's face.

"**Thunder!**"

Mike's third spell came in the form of a bolt of lightning that momentarily shocked the tree like Unversed.

'When am I so good at spells? It's almost like I went and switched myself with Gwen!' Mike thought but had no time to ponder as the monster's feet slammed into the ground, digging and burrowing like actual roots. 'Wonder what-' Mike then looked down. 'Uh oh!'

He barely had the time to leap to the side as the ground beneath him exploded in a blast of light. He quickly ran at the monster, slashing at it with his Keyblade and running around it so he wasn't caught off guard like he almost was earlier. Concentrating his mana through his Keyblade it blazed with fire as he slashed at the monster's skin, earning a screech as it tried to face him. Mike was then surrounded by a bright light as he delivered a powerful blow that knocked the monster over.

Mike worked on attacking it while it was down but it managed to stand back up and he quickly jumped back. "**Thunder!**"

Another bolt of lightning electrocuted the beast but it shook the attack off as its form turned back with purple flames blazing in its bushes. It moved even faster it tried to trample Mike who used his ability, inherited to him by Svetlana and almost dodged the beast every time but it managed to smack him with its branches and knock him down.

'Crap! This is harder than I thought!' Mike thought as he got back up and pointed his Keyblade at the monster. "**Firaga!**"

From his Keyblade came a large ball of fire that slammed into the monster, setting it on fire. The monster charged at him again and Mike leapt to the side. "**Thunder!**"

The monster didn't seem to care it was getting electrocuted as it quickly leapt through the air at Mike who was quickly getting the idea that if he wanted to live he had to keep moving. It leapt at him again as he used a Blizzard spell again but the monster dodged and Mike jumped back, barely avoiding the fate of getting squashed alive. He threw his Keyblade at the monster, delivering a few quick slashes before returning to his hand and rolled out of the way as the Unversed jumped again.

'I know it's tough but this is ridiculous.' Mike thought as he used another fire and thunder spell on the beast.

This time the monster changed tactics, firing what looked like rockets from its branches which in a way was true, sharp wooden pointed rockets that fell towards Mike, making him run for his life. He ran for the monster, seeing it had plunged its roots/feet into the ground again and dodged the explosions from the ground by dashing to the side as he saw the ground light up at the last second. Jumping up into the air Mike fired another Flame Salvo that hit the monster, knocking it down. Seeing it down Mike ran forward, letting out a yell as he swung his Keyblade down, slashing the beast in the face.

The tree like monster let out a screech as it vanished into a purple fog before Mike's eyes.

'That monster, it's like the other ones I faced when I came here.' Mike thought as he stared at where the creature had been. 'I wonder if Terra's facing something similar. I have to find him.'

Xxx

"How dare you return here, you blundering fool?" Master Cyclonis turned and glared angrily at Terra as he walked back into the room.

"What are you talking about?" Terra questioned as he stopped just a few feet away.

"I ordered you to bring me Piper's heart!" Master Cyclonis stated, her face consorting with anger.

"A request I chose to ignore." Terra replied as he walked up to the altar. "You know, you claim to be the one who can bring light to this world but all I see are shadows of anger, hate, and jealousy hanging thick on your heart."

"There's a reason no one speaks to me like." Master Cyclonis pointed her staff at Terra. "And that was your last mistake."

Terra summoned his Keyblade as the crystal in Cyclonis's staff began to glow bright and after a few seconds of shining it let loose a jet of red light. "**Defend!**"

A hexagon patterned barrier appeared in front of Terra as he held up his Keyblade, blocking the energy shot and sending right back at the person who fired it. Cyclonis gasped and jumped out of the way, shot sailing past her and hitting the wall, creating a large hole. Cyclonis landed on her feet and threw off her cloak as Terra settled into a sighting stance. Cyclonis was the first to start as she attacked, swinging her staff at Terra who raised his Keyblade and clashed with her staff.

Both fighters grappled against each other for a moment before pulling back. Terra swung at Cyclonis's stomach and Cyclonis stepped backwards to avoid the blow. Cyclonis fired a blast from her crystal again but Terra side-stepped, spinning to the side and slashing at Cyclonis who raised her staff over her head and blocked the Keyblade. Crystal Staff and Keyblade swung and clashed in showers of sparks with their owners each have a grimace on their faces as ducked and stepped around each other.

Terra slashed at Cyclonis who parried and spun her staff in her hand, slashing at Terra's face only for the Keyblade Apprentice to step back, the edge of Cyclonis's staff missing his nose by mere inches.

"**Wind!**" Terra shouted, a gust of wind blasting out of his Keyblade and knocking Cyclonis backwards.

Cyclonis flipped through the air, landing on her feet and skidded to a stop. Growling she leapt forward, seemingly flying through the air towards Terra who jumped up to meet her and the two clashed in mid-air with their weapons, their owners struggling to overpower each other. Both fighters fell to the ground, landing on their feet perfectly and Terra quickly kicked off the ground just as he landed, pushing Cyclonis back and swing his Keyblade out, knocking Cyclonis back again. Cyclonis landed on her back and rolled out of the way as Terra stood over her and jumped to her feet.

Cyclonis was panting slightly while Terra remained perfectly fine as he settled back into a ready stance. In became obviously clear to Cyclonis that Terra was physically the stronger of the two and though he was not as fast as Cyclonis he used power blows in his strikes.

"You're good but you're not the only one with tricks." Cyclonis said with a smirk.

Terra didn't say anything but his eyes slightly widened as Cyclonis suddenly lifted herself in the air, hovering above Terra. Cyclonis pointed her staff at several large pieces of rubble and a blue beam blasted from her crystal, engulfing the debris in blue light that slowly lifted it off the ground. Terra stepped back as the debris now floated above Cyclonis's head. Cyclonis gave a shout as she thrust her staff forward and the debris shot towards Terra.

"**Thunder!**" Terra shouted as he pointed his Keyblade forward and a bolt of Lightning shot out, destroying the debris in mid-air. Terra was not done quickly took the chance to make his move."**Gather!**"

At the edge of his Keyblade appeared a vortex of magic and suddenly Cyclonis found herself being pulled towards it. "Wh-WHAT IN THE-"

It drew her in close enough that Terra released and her attempts break free sent her spiraling across the room and into the wall. Cyclonis let out a pained grunt as she slid down the ground. She opened her eyes, gritting her teeth as she glared angrily at Terra and pointed her staff at him again.

"**Freeze!**" Terra shouted and fired a shard of Ice that shot at the crystal in Cyclonis's staff, shattering and the staff along with it.

Cyclonis gasped as she stood up, stepping back as Terra walked towards her.

"Now you will ask the Oracle. Where I find Master Xehanort?" Terra tried to imitate the authority he heard in his master's voice.

Cyclonis gritted her teeth as she looked at the Oracle that had been watching the battle. "You heard the man, tell him!"

Terra glanced over at the Oracle as she spoke. "Beyond the Light and Darkness he dwells where war was waged upon the fells."

"Is that all?" Terra asked but the Oracle remained silent. "Thanks. You've been a big help"

He turned around as his Keyblade vanished walked towards the exit, sensing the glare Cyclonis was sending him behind his back but knew she wouldn't attack him. He had learned all he could on this world. Perhaps he'll learn something else on the next world.

'Master Eraqus said he first received word of these events from Madam Web. Maybe it's time I went and spoke with her myself.'

Xxx

"Well that was a rather climatic end. At least this time we got some real action." Chris chuckled as he noticed something on the screen. "Oh wait. There's more."

Xxx

Mike ran into the Forbidden City and looked around. "Terra!"

His voice echoed throughout the Forbidden City but no one answered him. Mike sighed sadly as he looked down at the ground. 'I must have missed him.'

"Looking for someone?" Mike jumped as a voice startled him and looked up to see a girl dressed in a dark and purple cloak coming towards him. "Well, it seems today is just one event after another." The girl looked at Mike's Keyblade. "Haven't I seen that sword before?"

"Terra has one." Mike whispered and then spoke up. "You know Terra?"

"Oh yes I do. That ruffian pointed that sword of his at me asking about someone named Xehanort." The girl answered.

'What?' Mike thought as he held up his Keyblade and looked at it.

"My poor heart nearly stopped." The girl said with a frightened look and a hand over her chest.

"That doesn't sound like him at all. Where did Terra go?" Mike asked.

"I have no idea." The girl shrugged. "The way people are these days."

"Huh?" Mike stepped back. "What are you talking about?"

"If you want to find him so badly I suggest you go and see the Oracle. I'm sure she'll provide you with some answers." The girl gestured to the city. "Be careful though. There's bound to be a few…traps." The girl chuckled and vanished in a flash of violet light.

"Huh?" Mike looked around but she was gone. "Terra, what did you do?"

"Mike!" Aerrow's voice called out to him as the Storm Hawks came out of the woods behind him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just missed my friend." Mike said as he looked at the city. "Someone was here and said I should see the Oracle."

"But the Oracle was released from her prison. Why would she come back?" Aerrow wondered.

"I guess my search continues." Mike sighed sadly. "Thanks guys but I think I should on alone now."

"Are you sure?" Piper asked, looking concerned.

"Don't' worry about me. I'll be fine." Mike said with a smile. "Thanks for helping me out. I think I dealt with all of the monsters here."

"If you say so. But…" Aerrow held out his hand. "Thanks for the help, Mike."

"My pleasure, Aerrow." Mike shook Aerrow's hand. "I'll run quick look around before I leave to see if I missed any of those creatures."

"All right. We'll head back to the Condor. You sure you don't need a lift?" Arrow asked.

"It's okay. I have my own ride waiting for me." Mike answered with a small smile.

Xxx

"And that's the conclusion of today's challenge. Terra, Zoey, and Mike both have enjoyed boss battles of their own and are moving up in the world. What will happen in the next world? And don't worry, we'll be getting right back to Gwen and maybe we'll see more action. " Chris announced, chuckling gleefully. "Count on it. Until then stick around for the next episode of Total Drama…Birth by Sleep!"


End file.
